Video: Belarusians living abroad tend to lose ethnic identity, writer says

Ethnic Belarusians living abroad tend not to identify with the Belarusian people, writer Valery Kazakov said at a meeting with readers in Minsk on February 17.
"In national censuses conducted in Russia, 1.2 million people called themselves Belarusians 20 years ago, 816,000 10 years ago and 512,000 last year," said Mr. Kazakov, who chairs the “Belarusians of Russia” Federal National and Cultural Autonomy and is campaigning for Vladimir Putin in Russia`s presidential race.
"And this is not only the problem of Belarusians living in Russia but the problem of the Belarusian authorities. In order to feel more or less comfortable emigrants from Belarus stop identifying with the Belarusian people and join the Russian ethnicity."
The reason for the alarming trend is the Belarusian government`s failure to provide proper support to ethnic Belarusian communities abroad, he said.
"Thank God the government of Belarus is beginning this year the construction of the Belarusian House in Moscow, we should have started building it 20 years ago. If such an attitude persists, I`m afraid only 300,000 ethnic Belarusians will be left in Russia in 10 years` time," Mr. Kazakov noted.
Ethnic Belarusians should receive the same level of support that ethnic Germans, Israelis and Poles receive from their ethnic homelands, Mr. Kazakov said. "I mean not only financial aid but also assistance in the sphere of ethnic culture, the more so as Russia has laws that provide for such work," he added.