Russification of Belarus is a policy of suppressing the use of the Belarusian language and the presence of the Belarusian culture and mentality in various spheres of Belarusian public life by corresponding Russian analogs. The policy was carried out by the authorities of the Russian Empire and by the authorities of Soviet Russia. With the gaining to the power of pro-Russian authoritarian Aliaksandar Lukashenka in 1994, the Russification policy was renewed. The Russification of Belarus comprises several components:
* Teaching through the paradigms of Russian mentality
Repressions of Belarusian elites standing on the positions of national independence and building a Belarusian state on the basis of Belarusian national attributes
Maintaining the institutions of law creating conditions for crowding out the Belarusian language
Destruction or modification of national architecture
* :be-tarask:Сьпіс помнікаў архітэктуры Вялікага Княства Літоўскага, зруйнаваных уладамі Расейскай імпэрыі|List of architectural monuments of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, destroyed by the authorities of the Russian Empire
* :be-tarask:Сьпіс помнікаў гісторыі і архітэктуры Беларусі, зруйнаваных уладамі СССР|List of historical and architectural monuments of Belarus, destroyed by Soviet authorities
* :be-tarask:Сьпіс помнікаў гісторыі і архітэктуры Беларусі, зруйнаваных Маскоўскім патрыярхатам|List of historical and architectural monuments of Belarus, destroyed the Moscow Patriarchate
Installation of monuments to Russian figures
Renaming of settlements, streets and other geographical objects in honor of Russian figures or according to Russian tradition
An example is the Russification of education process in Belarus. In the 1994-1995 academic year, 58% of scholars in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language. After gaining to power of Lukashenka in 1994, the number of these classes was purposefully decreased. As the result, only 5.3% of scholars in the first classes of elementary school were taught in the Belarusian language in Minskin 1999. In academic year 2016-2017 near 128,000 scholars were taught in Belarusian language. The vast majority of Belarusian-language schools located in rural areas that are gradually closed through the exodus of its population to the cities. Each year, there is a close of about 100 small schools in Belarus, most of which use Belarusian language in teaching. There is a trend of transfer the schoolars of these schools to Russian-language schools. Thus, there is a loss of schoolars studying in Belarusian. Concerning to the cities, there are only seven Belarusian-language schools, six of which are in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Thus, the capital city, regional and district centers of the Republic of Belarus has six Belarusian-language schools in total:
