From now on, the country will be called Belarus in Norwegian.
Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt has listened to the wishes of the Belarusian democracy movement.
Photo: Stein J. Bjørge / Aftenposten
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– We do it in solidarity with the Belarusian democracy movement. They will not be an extension of Russia, writes Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt in a press release.
The decision on the new naming practice comes after both the foreign minister and the prime minister have met the leader of the democracy movement in the country, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaja. She has called on the international community to change its name from Belarus to Belarus.
Tsikhanouskaja was presidential candidate during the Belarusian election in 2020. Now she works for a democratic homeland from his exile room in Lithuania.
Follows Sweden and Denmark
Belarus is the direct Norwegian translation of Belarus. Both Sweden and Denmark have already made the name change Tsikhanouskaya is asking for. Now Norway is following suit.
The name change takes place on the same day as the International Day of Solidarity with Belarus.
– We believe it is right to change the use of names, in solidarity with the Belarusian democracy movement, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in the press release.
Tikhanovskaya also comments on the name change in a separate statement.
– I am grateful to Norway that the name has changed. This is more than just a symbolic act. Norway is a large and consistent supporter of democracy in Belarus, Tikhanovskaya writes on Twitter.
May 29 is also the second anniversary of the arrest of Tikhanovskaya’s husband, civil rights activist Sergei Tikhanovsky.
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