Belarusians Of Sweden Held Picket Against Name "Belorussia"

The White Russian Bear took part in the protest.

On October 15th, the Association of the Belarusian Diaspora in Sweden "Sveriges Belarusier" organized a picket in the center of Stockholm with a call to abolish the word "Vitryssland" as a name for Belarus in the official use, Radio Svaboda reports.

The participants of the picket made such a request to the new Minister of Foreign Affairs. The posters contained appeals to the Swedes: "You're not a Belo-Finn, I'm not a Belo-Russian", "We didn't elect (Belo)Putin", "We didn't Misappropriate (Belo)Crimea". A man in a polar bear costume was holding a sign "Russian White (not Belo-Russian) Bear".

The chairman of the Rada of Belarusians of Sweden Lesia Rudnik explained: the picketers wanted the minister to "imagine how it feels when you are confused every day with another nation and associated with a country that has recently gained a very negative reputation among the Swedes".

The former director of the Internet site "Kufar," Mikhail Sender, explained: it's normal when a country has another name in another language, but "if the name of another modern country, and also a very troubled country, is inscribed in the name, it's a problem".

The word "Vitryssland" is now commonly used in Swedish to refer to Belarus, while Belarusians are called "vitryssar" (literally, it means "Belorussia" and "Belorussian"). But after the call of the Belarusian diaspora and local politicians, in 2009, the Swedish Academy also included the word "belarusier" in the dictionaries to denote the Belarusians. In 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden agreed to include the name "Belarus" in the official list of names of countries, but in brackets next to "Vitryssland".

In the same year, Sweden's largest newspaper Dagens Nyheter announced the transition from Vitryssland to Belarus. As of 2019, the articles on the newspaper's website periodically contain the "old" name, but more often than not Belarus is called "Belorussia".