At first glance, the somber brick buildings and broad, silent boulevards of Minsk suggest a city living in the past. Here, World War II seems to have happened yesterday, and Soviet Communism to have ended just last night, if at all. But a closer look reveals that Belarus’ sleepy capital is in the throes of some of the biggest changes in its history. Within the next few years — perhaps months — Belarusians will decide whether to pursue the stability of their former ties to Russia or the political and economic benefits of a closer relationship with the West. A revolution — like the one that transformed nearby Ukraine earlier this year — seems unlikely. Yet there’s a sense that big changes are ahead for what was once the most Soviet of the former Soviet republics, even if those changes are taking place below the surface.

For Victor Morozevitch, those changes mean that he finally has a place to listen to his Beatles records. Morozevitch, a muscular man with a graying mustache and a denim jacket, remembers paying 70 rubles for the Beatles’ Abbey Road in 1972 — a time when he was living on a student stipend that barely afforded him such an extravagant purchase. Today, he’s the owner of the Beatles Cafe, a private club on the outskirts of Minsk, where guests can sample a Paul McCartney–themed soy sausage (a rarity in the land of roast pig and cabbage soup) or watch one of Morozevitch’s 1,000 DVDs.

Businesses like Morozevitch’s are still a rarity in Belarus, where private enterprise makes up only 7 percent of the economy. Deputy Economic Minister Andrei N. Tour believes it’s time for that to change. “There’s a low growth rate for small businesses,” Tour said, speaking through a translator in a long, book-lined office, with a portrait of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on the wall. “The best opportunities right now are in tourism, catering and trade. Private industry could possibly occupy 60 to 70 percent of our trade.”

In the past, oceans of red tape have made it frustrating and expensive to launch a business, enforce contracts or fire workers in Belarus. Now, spurred on by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the government is working to streamline its laws. It has established six “free economic zones” with preferential tax and customs rates. And it is working to create tax-free “technoparks” for Minsk that will combine foreign capital, the strength of the city’s industrial base and the brainpower of its 39 universities to create a dynamic business environment.

The government is also hoping to tap one of Belarus’ greatest unused resources: its natural beauty. Tour, among others, believes travelers may be attracted by the idea of visiting a Europe that hasn’t existed elsewhere for hundreds of years — one with pristine rivers, acres of 350-year-old oak trees and fields where the buffalo (in the form of the all-but-extinct European bison) roam.

Westerners may be accustomed to thinking of Belarus (which means “white Russia”) as part of Russia. In fact, this Kansas-sized country of rolling plains and virgin forests has bounced back and forth among Orthodox Russia and Catholic Poland and Lithuania throughout its long history. Over the centuries, Belarusians adapted by making sensible compromises: their national church combined Catholic doctrines with Orthodox rituals, and Minsk became a quietly cosmopolitan mixture of Christians, Muslim Tartars and Jews.

Today, the city’s most distinguishing features — broad, multilaned streets; huge concrete squares; and massive government buildings — are all relics of the “socialist-realist” style favored by the Soviet architects who rebuilt the city after the ravages of World War II. Being part of the Soviet system was often difficult: Minsk’s most moving memorial, the “Island of Tears” — a white cylindrical tower with constantly chiming bells — commemorates the war in Afghanistan, in which Belarus lost more soldiers than any other Soviet republic. Yet Belarus remained one of the U.S.S.R.’s most stalwart supporters until 1986, when the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power station covered 70 percent of southeastern Belarus with radioactive dust.

Moscow’s failure to respond to — or even acknowledge — the accident angered many Belarusians, as did the 1988 discovery of mass graves at Kurapaty, a Stalin-era death camp. In 1991, the republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Three years later, an anti-corruption reformer by the name of Alexander Lukashenko became the first president of the Republic of Belarus. Lukashenko’s supporters as well as his critics — and there are plenty of both — agree that his government has created a stable economic environment, with Belarus enjoying steady growth and low unemployment rates. However, critics have charged the Belarusian leader with refusing to allow political debate or democratic reforms. He has also continued to seek closer ties with Russia. Belarus depends on Russia for oil and gas, and Russia is the primary market for the televisions, tractors and other durable goods that Belarus makes. Under Lukashenko, Belarus has virtually erased its borders with Russia — a move popular with Belarusians, who celebrate July 3 as the day the Red Army liberated the country from Nazi Germany, but who virtually ignore Aug. 25, the day Belarus gained its independence.

Russia has not always returned the favor, however. Moscow recently dropped to second place on the list of Belarus’ top foreign investors (Switzerland claims the top spot, with 38 percent to Russia’s 21; the United States is a distant fifth, with 4.7 percent) and has distanced itself from Lukashenko’s government in recent years. And while industrial Minsk may be bolstered by exports to Russia, the rest of largely agricultural Belarus needs the kind of jobs and structural improvements that Western capital could provide.

“The rate of unemployment may be low in the republic, but there are other problems. We’re worried about structural unemployment, especially in small cities where military units were based,” Tour said. “Once the U.S.S.R. was gone, those military units left the territories. Once the troops left, we were left with infrastructure problems.”

Turning Belarus’ pastures into a traveler’s paradise could make a big difference, Tour believes. “We must make agri-tourism a substantial part of our economy,” said Tour, who compares Belarus’ rustic scenery to Switzerland’s. “It’s the only way we can guarantee the stable growth of our agricultural industries.”

Despite having only a fledgling tourist industry and a difficult visa procedure for international visitors, Belarus already draws travelers interested in history — in addition to its many World War II monuments and museums, one of Mink’s top tourist attractions is the former home of presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. The city continues to trade on its well-deserved reputation for safe, clean streets and friendly people. That, at least, seems unlikely to change — even if those people are now playing miniature golf on the city’s first course, or raising a glass of ice-cold maple vodka at a bar dedicated to James Bond, or shopping at a new underground complex that winds past the city’s former Communist Party headquarters. The statue of Lenin above their heads may still be intact, but the people of Minsk are living in a whole new world.

Entry Requirements
U.S. citizens need a passport and visa to enter Belarus. In addition to a completed form, photograph and processing fee, you’ll also need a letter of invitation from a travel agency (for a tourist visa) or a Belarusian company (for a business visa). You will also need proof of medical insurance (usually from a Belarusian insurance company, and available for a fee).

More Information

Consulate General of the Republic of Belarus in New York
708 Third Ave., 21st Floor
New York, NY 10017
tel 212 682 5392, fax 212 682 5491
http://www.belarusconsul.org/index_eng.htm

Embassy of Belarus
1619 New Hampshire Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
tel 202 986 1606
fax 202 986 1805
http://www.belarusembassy.org

Belintourist is a tourist agency providing hotel accommodations, visa support and other services.
19 Masherov Ave.
Minsk, Belarus 220004
tel 375 017 226 9971
fax 375 017 203 1143
http://www.belintourist.by

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus
19 Lenina St.
Minsk, Belarus 220030
tel 375 017 227 2922
fax 375 017 227 4521