Belarusians Overwhelmingly Patriotic But Only a Bare Majority Proud of What Their Country has Achieved or Ready to Defend It, New BISI Poll Finds

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 23 – Eighty-four percent of Belarusians consider themselves patriots of their country, but only 55 percent are proud of what their country has done and only 56 percent are prepared to defend during difficult times, according to a new poll in Vitebsk Oblast by the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies (BISI).

            The poll, which was supported by the Braslav district government, will give both those who see Belarusians as increasingly consolidated around their country and its institutions and those who think that they would not be prepared to defend it against Russian moves to bring it under Moscow’s rule (thinktanks.by/publication/2023/10/23/belorusy-schitayut-natsionalnyy-yazyk-i-kulturu-glavnym-proyavleniem-patriotizma.html).

            BISI analyst Natalya Buchneva says that almost three-quarters of those surveyed think of patriotism in terms of their district, city or village rather than in terms of Belarus as a country, an indication that nation building still has a long way to go there. But slightly more identify it in terms of national traditions and language, giving hope for the future.