His curiosity in Chernobyl was one cause why he sought a seat within the Congress of Folks’s Deputies, an company Mr. Gorbachev based in 1989; He was elected to Congress the next 12 months. Following the August 1991 coup try, a number of parliamentary leaders have been compelled out, and Mr. Shushkevich was appointed president of the physique.
After being ousted by Mr. Lukashenko in 1994, Mr. Shushkevich grew to become a fierce critic of his successor and Mr. Lukashenko tended to make heavenly guarantees.
“If he can do all of it, he’s Moses,” Mr. Shushkevich informed The Instances in July 1994. “However he’s not. Solzhenitsyn says that Vladimir Zhirinovsky “- a Russian fireplace extremist -” is a caricature of a Russian patriot. Properly, Lukashenko is a caricature of Zhirinovsky. ”
Nonetheless, Mr. Lukashenko could have appropriately calculated a measure of retaliation. The Instances reported In 2002 and 1997, he issued an govt decree regulating the brand new wage and residing situations for the pensions of state officers – apart from former presidents of the Supreme Soviet, a membership together with Mr. Shushkevich and one other. In Belarus, which is vulnerable to hyperinflation, that has made it troublesome for Mr. Shushkevich to pocket.
His month-to-month cost “was once about $200,” Mr. Shushkevich informed The Instances, “it is a good pension by our requirements.”
“Now,” he mentioned, “it’s 3,196 rubles. That equates to $1.80. ”
Along with his spouse, his survivors embody a son, Stanislau, and a daughter, Alena.
Mr. Shushkevich continued to fireside his successor to the tip. In considered one of his final interviews, in December, he made contact between Mr. Lukashenko and the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin.
“Putin and Lukashenko are nonetheless not happy with the collapse of the Soviet Union,” he mentioned. “They need to rule ceaselessly. This isn’t the way in which to create a democracy.”
Milana Mazaeva contributed reporting.
