DISINFO: Belarus has began de-russification and is imposing Belarusian language
SUMMARY
Belarus is moving in the direction of a “de-russification”. This involves imposing statutory measures such as the Belarusian language, [Catholic] churches, vyshyvankas and the Latin alphabet in what is termed as a ‘gradual soft Belarusianisation’. This inevitably turns Belarus into an enemy, moving it from the Russian cultural space into a Polish-Lithuanian one.
RESPONSE
No evidence given.
The Belarusian constitution provides equal status of the two official languages – Belarusian and Russian (Article 17) – as well as equal status of religions in the country (Article 16). In practice, the majority of official correspondence, state media and education in Belarus operate in Russian.
The number of people claiming Belarusian as their native language is decreasing according to recent public opinion polls with only 3% speaking Belarusian on an everyday basis.