Vyacheslav Kebich

Vyacheslav Kebich
Prime Minister of Belarus
In office 19 September 1991 – 21 July 1994
Succeeded by	Mikhail Chyhir
Personal details
Born	(1936-06-10) 10 June 1936 Кonyushevschinа, Minsk voblast, Byelorussian SSR, USSR
Profession	Engineer

Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich (Belarusian: Вячаслаў Францавіч Кебіч [vʲatʂaˈslaw kˈʲɛbʲitʂ], Russian: Вячесла́в Фра́нцевич Ке́бич; born 10 June 1936 in a village near Wołożyn, Poland) is a political figure from Belarus.

Prime Minister of Belarus

He was the first Prime Minister of Belarus, serving from 1991 until 1994, having held the equivalent office of the Byelorussian SSR since 1990. During his tenure in office he promoted a pro-Russian stance. In early February 1994 that he 'would continue campaigning for a [monetary] union with [Russia], as I always have done and am doing now. It is not just a question of economic circumstances. We are linked by the closest spiritual bonds; we have a common history and similar cultures'. In early March he told parliament that Belarusian-Russian relations were Minsk's basic foreign policy priority, 'owing to the community of Belarusian-Russian culture, the identical interests of two fraternal peoples.

Other roles and background

Kebich was also one of two candidates in the final running for President of Belarus in 1994, but losing to current leader Alexander Lukashenko by a wide margin. After that election, he has led the Belarusian Commerce and Financial Union and was member of the House of Representatives.

Before his career as a politician, Kebich worked as an engineer.

References

• President's congratulations on Kebich's 70th birthday, 10 June 2006