Stanislau Shushkevich: “In many cases I was Yeltsin’s argent supporter” :: Charter'97 :: News

A former speaker of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus Stanislau Shushkevich comments the death of the former president of Russia Boris Yeltsin to Radio Svaboda: “I have very warm reminiscences about this man, before Belavezha, in Viskuli and after Viskuli. In many cases I was his ardent supporter, and there were no reasons to complain when I retired, and he remained a president. So I have the most wonderful memories about this man. And it seems to me that when many people in Russia say not many things have become successful because he hadn’t been acting the best way, I would say: he was the first president, and it’s really hard to act the best way. I deeply grieve over his early death”.

- He was one of the persons who caused downfall of the Soviet empire, as a result of which Belarus gained independence. You were another one, but how could his role for Belarusian independence be evaluated?

- You know, it’s not a simple question. I think when he wanted to get rid of Gorbachov’s power over him; there weren’t another step but to recognize the independence of Belarus. And he had done that in a dignified way without ever pretending it had been involuntarily.

- To your mind, would his death influence the political situation in today’s Russia?

- I think not very much, as he had been far from those affairs and hadn’t been a supporter of the direction in which Russia is developing now.