In Grodno, in the building erstwhile owned by the Polish School Mothers – an organization which has been a bastion of Polish culture and education in Belarus for years – the General Consulate of the Russian Federation was solemnly opened – informs portal “Virtual Belarus.
The ceremony took place in an atmosphere which Belarusian propaganda described as "Christmas", although for many Poles and democratic Belarusian diaspora this event had a profoundly provocative and painful dimension.
During the ceremony, the Russian ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, made a message in which he accused Belarusian political migrants of an alleged effort to "compulsive Polishization" of Belarus. According to him, opposition actions abroad are part of a larger intellectual operation aimed at creating ideological foundations for the nationalist movement, which in the future would lead to "another Euromaidan".
Gryzlov stressed that the main weapon of the opposition is the "soft power" – attractive publications on social media, virile films and narratives telling about the heroes of the conflict for freedom, which in his opinion distort the fact and "destroy Belarus' spiritual heritage".
The beginning of the Russian consulate took place at an highly symbolic time – on the anniversary of the beginning of the Katyn crime, erstwhile the russian NKVD in 1940 began the extermination of the Polish elite. For many observers, besides outside the borders of Belarus, it is not an accidental motion that can be read as another component of Russian historical and imperial narration policy aimed at relativising russian crimes.
The choice of location besides creates controversy – the building, which utilized to be the seat of the Polish School Matrix, was taken over by the Belarusian authorities and handed over to Russia. For Poles in Belarus it is simply a clear signal of marginalization of their presence and function in local social life.
In his speech, Gryzlov, he besides accused Poland of "explosing historical facts", including, as he stated, "the memory of the liberation of Western Belarus from the Polish business by the Red Army in 1939". This is simply a duplication of russian historical narrative, according to which the USSR's aggression on Poland was "liberation", which contradicts the findings of historians and global law.
The ceremony was attended by leading representatives of power in Grodno, including the president of the Grodno Oblast Executive Committee Yuri Karaew, the head of the local council of Jelen Pasjuta, as well as representatives of the force departments. Their presence shows the importance the Lukashenko and Kremlin government attaches to this event – both as a political act and symbolic demonstration of Russia's dominance in the region.
The beginning of the Russian Consulate in Grodno, in the Matrix building taken over by the government and on the anniversary of the Katyn crime, is not only a diplomatic act – it is simply a political manifesto, full of symbols and propaganda messages. Boris Gryzlov's statements fit into the broader context of Russian historical policy, which seeks to strengthen influences in Belarus and marginalize Western influences, including Poland. For many Belarusians and Poles in the East, this is another signal of narrowing space for freedom, past and memory.
