Siarhei Verameyenka: Novgorod Republic To Respond To Our Freedom Call

The historical meaning of the victory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania over Muscovy.

Once no one could ignore the rulers of the Belarusian lands, and the territory of our duchy was inferior in area only to France. The glory of the battle of Vorsha, which is included in the textbooks on military tactics, is still enormous today. The Belarusian army did the impossible and demolished the three-fold superior army of Moscow. The website charter97.org asked representative of the Belarusian National Congress in Hrodna Siarhei Verameyenka how the history of our state would have evolved if our troops had developed their military success; and why it is important to raise real Belarusian patriots.

—Today Belarusians celebrate the Day of the Military Glory. In 1514, a famous battle took place near Vorsha, on the Krapivenskaye field. It was a unique battle from the point of view of the military tactics, the Belarusian army triumphed over the three-fold superior army of Muscovy. With what battle in the world history would you compare the battle of Vorsha?

— Our military commanders and the whole army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was always inferior to the Moscow troops, was famous for always using advanced tactics. If we take the battle of Vorsha, which became a classic military example, Kanstantsin Astrozhski became the author of a tactical method of entrapping the enemy. It was actively used until the beginning of the 20th century. Then this method was repeatedly used during the civil war at the territory of the former Russian Empire. It was the use of bright, provocative tactics that made our commanders real geniuses of military art.

— History does not know any conjunctive mood. But if we imagine that the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had secured several more such victories, how would the course of history have changed?

— It's hard to answer such questions. One thing is for sure: we would live in a great country. When I say "great," I mean not only the territory, but also the inner greatness of the country. This should be learnt. Unfortunately, our government shows a negative example. What kind of a patriotic education we are talking about, when Lukashenka has not yet determined which nationality he is: either Belarusian, or "Russian with a quality mark", then some Ukrainian roots emerge. Such people cannot take responsibility for their country.

And we could live in a completely different country, because once Smolensk, Tver, Ryazan, Bryansk were ethnically Belarusian lands.

We live in a very interesting time, when no one knows what will happen next. The time of real "tectonic" changes. Maybe someday around the Republic of Muscovy there will remain the Novgorod Republic, Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Yakutia and other countries. Then, fraternal peoples who live on the territory of the Russian Empire will respond to our call for freedom.