Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic

Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі
Type
Type	Provisional parliament
Leadership
President	Ivonka Survilla Since 1997
Meeting place
Facilities of Belarusian diaspora in North America, Britain and other countries
Website
http://www.radabnr.org

Rada (Council) of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (Belarusian: Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі, Рада БНР, Rada BNR) is the supreme governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Since 1919 the Rada BNR is in exile where it has become one of the most influential political organizations of the Belarusian diaspora. As of 2017, the Rada BNR is the oldest existing Government in exile.

The Rada BNR was initially established as the executive body of the First All-Belarusian Congress, held in Minsk in December 1917 with over 1800 participants from different regions of Belarus including representatives of Belarusian national organisations, regional zemstva, main Christian denominations and Belarusian Jewish political parties. The work of the Congress was violently interrupted by the Bolsheviki.

After retreat of the Bolsheviki from Minsk, the Rada declared itself supreme power in Belarus. After the Bolsheviki and the Germans had signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the Rada declared independence of Belarus as a sovereign Belarusian Democratic Republic.

As of 25 March 1918 the Rada BNR had 77 members including:

Germany did not give official recognition to Belarus and hindered the activities of the institutions of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Nevertheless, the Rada managed to start organising its governing bodies in different parts of the country as well as working on establishing a national Belarusian army and a national education system.

The Rada has established official diplomatic contacts with several states including Finland, the Ukrainian People's Republic, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic States, Turkey and others.

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Wikipedia