Stanislau Shushkevich

As the Chairman of the Belarusian Parliament, he was the first head of an independent Belarusian state. Shushkevich was born in 1934 in Minsk. On December 8th, 1991, he signed the Belovezh Accords, which disbanded the Soviet Union and created the Commonwealth of Independent States. By education, he is a Professor of Physics. As the head of state, Shushkevich removed nuclear weapons from Belarus. He led the Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly until 2018. Shushkevich received the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Prize for his participation in dissolving the USSR and building a free and democratic Belarus. He died on May 3rd, 2022.

Photo: KEW Archives