Alaksandr Milinkiewicz, 1 of the leaders of the democratic opposition in Belarus and a candidate in the 2006 presidential election, died on Tuesday 11 August 2026 in the morning at the age of 79. The information was provided by independent Belarusian media behind the family. A man walks away, whose life communicative reminds Poland of the price of freedom across the east border.
A man of Belarusian freedom has gone
Alaksandr Milinkiewicz died on Tuesday morning, August 11, 2026. As he stated Defence24, citing independent Belarusian portals and close politicians, he was 79 years old. Information on death was besides provided by independent media indicated by Onet/PAP, including Zierkalo, Our Niwa and Belsat.
It's a message to be serious. Milinkiewicz belonged to a generation of Belarusian opposition who attempted to build a policy without violence, without hatred and without illusions about the nature of the government of Alaksandra Lukashenka. specified a road can be little effective than large gestures. In the authoritarian system, however, it takes courage to continue.
Grodno, discipline and Public Service
Milinkiewicz was born in 1947 in Grodno. By his education he was a mathematician and physicist, worked as an academic lecturer, among others at the Grodno State University. He served as Deputy Mayor of Grodn from 1990 to 1996.
This Grodzieński thread is of peculiar importance to the Polish reader. Grodno is not an anonymous point on the map. It is simply a city profoundly inscribed in the past of the erstwhile Republic, in the destiny of Poles in the Borderlands and in the drama of east Europe torn by the empire. Therefore, all Belarusian biography increasing from Grodna besides says something about our work to remember.
Milinkiewicz was an honorary associate of the Union of Poles in Belarus. The media besides resembles the household history: his great-grandfather was active in the January uprising and was repressed by Moscow. It's not a item for the obituary. It is simply a sign of the continuation of the fight against the Russian imperial reflex, which erstwhile struck Poles, erstwhile in Belarus, and present inactive tries to subdue the nations between Warsaw and Moscow.
Joint opposition candidate
Milinkiewicz's most celebrated political minute was the 2006 presidential election in Belarus. They featured as a joint candidate for democratic opposition against Lukashenko. It was not just an election start in the state of law. It was an effort to show that Belarusians have the right to represent another than the apparatus of power, propaganda and fear.
From 2007 to 2016, Milinkiewicz headed the Social Movement “About Freedom”. He was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of thought awarded by the European Parliament, as well as the Kazimierz Pulaski Prize for the Knight of Freedom and the Sergio Vieira de Mello Prize. After 2020, he was on emigration.
Polish public opinion frequently looks at Belarus through the prism of the border, migration provocations and Minsk's military dependence on Moscow. This is simply a essential look, due to the fact that the safety of Poles is the first. However, we must not forget that there is besides a nation beyond this border whose government has been taking distant the right to a average policy for decades. We have written about the plans of Belarusian democratic groups on the occasion of the text "New Belarus 2026 in Warsaw".
Lesson for Poland
Milinkiewicz's death reminds us that Polish east policy cannot be sentimental, but it must besides not lose memory of people who opposed post-Soviet despotism. National realism does not mean indifference. It means a cool designation of Poland's interests and a clear indication of who this business destroys: Moscow and its regimes.
Warsaw should so conduct a tough policy towards Minsk, especially at the border and in safety matters. At the same time, it must defend the memory of those Belarusians who did not agree to the function of the subjects of Lukashenko. In the same logic 1 must see the actions of the government aimed at Polish heritage, specified as the removal described by us monument of Tadeusz Kościuszko from his home close Brest.
There's no area for easy patos. It's a simple duty. Poland, faithful to its own tradition of freedom and end memory, should separate the Belarusian people from the apparatus that binds it. Milinkiewicz was 1 of those people who, through their own lives, made this difference visible.
A peaceful, consistent politician left, rooted in the experience of Grodn and east Europe. For the Belarusians, it is simply a individual and symbolic loss. For Poles it is simply a reminder that freedom behind our east border is not abstraction. He's part of our security.
Source: Defence24, Onet/PAP, independent Belarusian media.
Source: Defence24
