Kopyl regional executive committee

All foreigners who have received Belarusian citizenship are integrated into society, said Vitaly Naumchik, First Deputy Head of the Citizenship and Migration Department of the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, BelTA has learned.

“The process of granting Belarusian citizenship to foreigners continues. The head of state has signed a corresponding decree today. A total of 401 people received Belarusian citizenship, including 341 Ukrainians. The new citizens of Belarus include immigrants from the CIS countries, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Türkiye and other states. A total of 5,657 people have been granted Belarusian citizenship in the wake of the instruction the head of state gave in August 2021,” said Vitaly Naumchik.

Some 3,030 foreigners were granted Belarusian citizenship by the decision of the head of state, and 2,627 foreigners by the decision of law enforcement agencies.

“Employees of law enforcement agencies help foreigners fill in and submit their citizenship applications and provide all kinds of assistance to applicants. The foreigners who are approved for the Belarusian citizenship are law-abiding people, live a decent life, have a job and are already integrated into society,” said Vitaly Naumchik.

Written by belta.by

More than 45,000 Ukrainian nationals arrived in Belarus since February, BelTA learned from the State Border Committee of Belarus.

“From 6.00 on 24 February to 6.00 on 12 August, Belarus admitted 45,125 citizens of Ukraine,” the committee said. Almost 30,000 of them arrived in Belarus via the EU countries.

Written by minsk-region.gov.by

Head of the International Military Cooperation Department, Aide for International Military Cooperation to the Belarusian Defense Minister, Colonel Valery Revenko met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Cuba to Belarus Santiago Perez Benitez on 10 August, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Defense Ministry.

The meeting also included the accreditation of Colonel Monica Milian Gomez, military, naval and air attache to the Embassy of Cuba in Russia with concurrent accreditation to Belarus.

The parties exchanged opinions on topical issues of the international agenda, discussed the state of international military cooperation between the countries, prospects and areas of their further development.

This is the first accreditation of a Cuban military diplomat to the Defense Ministry of Belarus.

Written by minsk-region.gov.by

Belarusians bid farewell to Nikolai Slyunkov at funeral in Minsk

On 11 August Minsk bid farewell to the former head of the BSSR Nikolai Slyunkov in a ceremony at the Central House of Officers.

Nikolai Slyunkov headed Minsk Tractor Plant from 1965 to 1972. Then he held the post of First Secretary of the Minsk City Committee of the Communist Party of the BSSR, Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the BSSR, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Written by belta.by

About 200 writers will attend the 29th edition of the Belarusian Written language Day in Dobrush on 3-4 September, the honorary chairman of the Union of Writers of Belarus, People's Writer of Belarus Nikolai Cherginets said at a press conference, BelTA has learned.

"This holiday is a kind of exam for writers. They will present their works to the audience. This year's event will bring more writers than usual: about 200 people. I would like to thank the Gomel regional branch of the Union of Writers of Belarus for the efforts to prepare for this holiday. They invited 25 Russian writers with whom we maintain good relations," Nikolai Cherginets noted.

In the run-up to the Belarusian Written Language Day, on 2 September, the Gomel regional branch will hold a number of events in Turov. "First of all, this is a roundtable on the role of writers and books in strengthening society. Also, the Gomel branch announced a competition for the best poem and song about Dobrush. More than 50 poems have already been submitted, along with songs. Special attention will be paid to the anniversaries of Yanka Kupala and Yakub Kolas, Ivan Shamyakin and other writers," Nikolai Cherginets added.

Written by minsk-region.gov.by

The 86th Communications Brigade held a draw for the Steady Signal competition of the International Army Games 2022, BelTA learned from the Defense Ministry of Belarus.

Major-General Oleg Mishchenko, the Chief of Communications of the Armed Forces - Head of the Signal Office of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus, addressed the visiting teams on 8 August."Welcome to the Republic of Belarus," he said. “During the competition, we will show you the Belarusian land, traditions, our museums and military units. This year we tried to make the competition more exciting. For the first time the event will involve a female division. The number of participating countries has grown to 12. We are in for a speculator and fierce competition."

The competition will officially kick off in Brest on Sunday, 14 August.

The Healthcare Ministry has decided to expand the vaccination coverage and include children ages five years and older into the COVID-19 vaccination program, Belarusian Deputy Healthcare Minister, Chief Sanitary Inspector Aleksandr Tarasenko said, BelTA has learned.

“We have amended our vaccination strategy to cover more age groups. Earlier we vaccinated children ages 12 years and older, however starting from this week we will vaccinate children who are at least five years old. They will be offered China's Vero Cell. The same vaccine is administered to pregnant women. In China this vaccine is used to vaccinate children ages three years and older, we have so far allowed it from the age of five,” said Aleksandr Tarasenko.

The rest of the population gets the shot of Sputnik V or Sputnik Light vaccines depending on their availability in the regions. “The Healthcare Ministry is now focused on revaccination. The initial vaccination coverage is 70%. Some 27% of people who completed their initial vaccination regimen have already got a booster shot. We recommend receiving a booster jab in August-September before the seasonal rise in the disease rate,” the deputy healthcare minister said.

The increase in COVID-19 cases in Belarus is expected in September. According to experts, such a likelihood is rather high. “Taking into account the immune status of the population we expect the new wave to be not as intense as the previous ones. We hope that the infection will proceed mainly in a mild form and patients will not need hospitalization. At the moment, the dominant strain in Belarus, just like in the neighboring countries, is omicron (90%) BA.4 and BA.5 lineages. The other 10% are stealth omicron cases,” Aleksandr Tarasenko informed.

Four children's rooms for Ukrainian migrant families have opened in Gomel Oblast, BelTA learned from the head of the management and personnel department of the Gomel Oblast branch of the Belarus Red Cross Artyom Karpenko.

The children's rooms are now available in Novobelitsky District of Gomel, in Mozyr, Kalinkovichi and Rechitsa. The goal of this project is to facilitate adaptation of families with children who were forced to leave their homes and their country.

“In such rooms, children will be able to attend interactive classes, watch educational videos, play games, there will be coloring books and much more. There will also be art classes every week and other educational activities. A children's psychologist will also come,” the Belarus Red Cross branch informed.

The Gomel Oblast branch of the Belarus Red Cross started helping people from Ukraine from the very first days. Volunteers were on duty at the border around the clock to provide help to all who needed it.

Written by minsk-region.gov.by

Over 158,000 foreign nationals have visited Belarus without visas, BelTA learned from the State Border Committee of Belarus.

As of 00:00 on 1 August, 158,509 citizens of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland took advantage of Belarus' visa waiver program. “Since 15 April when Belarus reopened border for visa waiver arrivals, 102,577 citizens of Lithuania, 12,728 non-citizens and 40,980 citizens of Latvia have visited Belarus. Since 1 July, when a visa waiver program for Poland was launched, Belarus has hosted 2,224 visitors from Poland, the State Border committee informed.

For more information on visa-free visits to Belarus, please visit the website of the State Border Committee of Belarus and the Belarus Border app.

Written by minsk-region.gov.by