Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich (10 June 1936 – 9 December 2020) was a

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian politician and the first Prime Minister of Belarus from 1991 to 1994.

Early life and education

Kebich was born on 10 June 1936, in the village of Konyushevshchina (present-day Minsk region of Belarus). In 1958, he graduated from the engineering department of the Belarusian Polytechnic Institute. He studied at the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus. Before his career as a politician, Kebich worked as an engineer.

Prime Minister of Belarus

Kebich was the first Prime Minister of Belarus, serving from 1991 until 1994, having held the equivalent office of the Byelorussian SSR since 1990. During his tenure in office he promoted a pro-Russia stance. In early February 1994 he stated that he would 'continue campaigning for a monetary union with Russia, as I always have done and am doing now. It is not just a question of economic circumstances. We are linked by the closest spiritual bonds; we have a common history and similar cultures.' In early March he told parliament that Belarusian-Russian relations were Minsk's basic foreign policy priority, 'owing to the community of Belarusian- Russian culture, the identical interests of two fraternal peoples.'

Other roles

Kebich was one of the drafters and signatories of the Belavezha Accords that effectively ended the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and founded the Commonwealth of Independent States. He was also one of two candidates in the final running for President of Belarus in 1994 but lost to leader Alexander Lukashenko by a wide margin. After the election, he led the Belarusian Commerce and Financial Union and was a member of the House of Representatives.

Death

Kebich died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on 9 December 2020 (the day after the 29th anniversary of the Belavezha Accords), during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus.Умер Вячеслав Кебич. У него был коронавирус

Notes

References

1936 births 2020 deaths People from Valozhyn district People from Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939) Belarusian Roman Catholics Members of the Central Committee of the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Byelorussia Heads of government of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Prime ministers of Belarus Deputy prime ministers of Belarus Members of the House of Representatives of Belarus Candidates for President of Belarus Soviet colonels Belarusian engineers Soviet engineers 20th-century engineers Recipients of the Byelorussian SSR State Prize Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus {{Belarus-politician-stub