BNR Rada honors Belarusian protesters, soldiers who fought for Ukraine with awards

November 25, BPN. The Rada of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR) has established a new award, the Pahonia medal.

The first to receive it are “heroes who sacrificed the most precious thing they had, their own lives, for the freedom of Belarus,” said Ivonka Survilla, chair of the BNR Rada, in her annual address marking the anniversary of the Słuck Uprising against the Bolsheviks in 1920.

The award should celebrate outstanding services to Belarus and the Belarusian people, Survilla said.

Among those awarded posthumously are political prisoner Vitold Ašurak, opposition activist Raman Bandarenka, protesters Mikita Kryŭcoŭ, Alaksandr Tarajkoŭski, Hienadź Šutaŭ, Kanstancin Šyšmakoŭ, as well as Belarusian volunteers who died fighting Russia in Ukraine in 2022 – Ivan Marčuk, Pavieł Bahatyr, Vasil Parfiankoŭ, Alaksiej Skobla, and Illa Chrenaŭ.

The award list features a total of 21 names. It includes Michaił Žyźneŭski, Mikałaj Illin, Ales Čarkašyn, and Vital Ciliženka – Belarusians who died during the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine and the war that started in the same year.

The news comes the day after Belarusian Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakoŭ described Belarusians fighting Russia in Ukraine as “traitors, supporting the fascist ideology.” The interior ministry has identified about 160 Belarusian nationals currently fighting on the Ukrainian side, he told the ONT TV channel on November 24.