Ex-Soviet Leader Dies of COVID

During the 1960s, Stanislav Shushkevich, Belarus' first president and the man who taught Lee Harvey Oswald to speak Russian, passed away. 87-year-old

Shushkevich died early Wednesday morning, according to his wife Irina, after being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who replaced Shushkevich in 1994 and has since repressed dissent, was an outspoken opponent of Shushkevich's policies.

Shushakich slammed Lukashenko for letting Russia use Belarus to gather soldiers and initiate the conflict.

It has been stated that streets and monuments honoring Stanislav Shushkevich will be created when the occupation ends.

"The road toward a free, peaceful, and independent Belarus," she remarked, "is being continued" by them.

In the wake of Gorbachev's reforms, Shushkevich rose to prominence in Belarusian politics. His election to the Belarusian parliament came after the attempted Soviet coup of August 1991.

Vladimir Shushkevich assembled the leaders of Russia and Ukraine in a hunting lodge outside Poland to sign an accord declaring the Soviet Union a dead entity and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

On December 25, 1991, eight Soviet countries joined the coalition, ending Gorbachev's reign of terror two weeks later.

In an interview with the AP in 2014, Shushkevich expressed pride in the agreement. A "diplomatic masterpiece," he called the deal he struck with Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kravchuk.

When "a large empire and nuclear powerhouse broke into independent countries, no blood was shed," Shushkevich said.

He boasted, "We closed the nation's prison," and he was right. There was nothing to be sorry for.

Gorbachev's efforts to combine the 12 Soviet republics made little sense to Shushkevich and other leaders.

The attempted August coup against Gorbachev damaged Gorbachev's authority and prompted further countries to pursue freedom. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had already seceded.

Gorbachev's notion of a new structure with him still at the top was the only option for the union pact, according to Shushkevich.

He will be remembered for his signature on the disintegration of the Soviet Union and for his remembrance in our hearts," Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte tweeted.