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NON BALTIC STATES WITHIN THE FORMER SOVIET
UNION
Prior to World War 2 , there was no Rotary in
Belarus . However, as we have noted elsewhere, in March 1990 RI
President Hugh Archer and PRIP
Rolf Klärich went to Moscow as
guests of the USSR Government. There they met Deputy Foreign
Minister Vladimir Petrovski and agreed with him some Rotary
conditions for opening clubs in the USSR. It was agreed that the
first Rotary club would be chartered in Moscow and then
afterwards, in about 10 other big cities, mainly in the capitals
of Soviet states. In practice, Rotary Clubs were only chartered
in a few capitals at this time. It was further agreed that these
10 Rotary clubs could work for about two years, after which they
would be examined by both parties and judged if they suited both
Soviet society and the Rotary world. If both parties accepted
them, they could continue their existence. Clubs were then
chartered in all but two of the former Soviet republics. These
were Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Belarus was the part of the former USSR immediately to the east
of Lithuania, with which it was once united as the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania, north of Ukraine, and west of the Russian
Federation, and bordering Poland. The state capital of Minsk was
the location of the country's
first Rotary Club, chartered in
1994.
A French District Governor was appointed to oversee this Club
and it made up part of the Rotary development zone (District) 20
and later District 2230. The 2005/6 Directory lists a total of 5
clubs in Belarus.
This account is based on the page concerning Belarus put
on the net by Henk Aalders then of the Kumeu Rotary Club
from New Zealand who we thank for permission to use it.
Rotary Global History Historian Basil Lewis
11 January 2006
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