Alexander Milinkevich has passed away
The prominent Belarusian politician and scientist was 79 years old. In the 2006 elections, he became the single candidate from pro-European forces. Milinkevich's calm, intelligent political style contrasted with the populism characteristic of many post-Soviet politicians.
Last year, he underwent a difficult operation; doctors fought for his life, and there were hopes that he was recovering. But today, his wife announced the politician's death. It happened at 7:15 AM.
Milinkevich was born on July 25, 1947, in Hrodna. By education, he was a physicist: he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Hrodna Pedagogical Institute, and after postgraduate studies, he worked at the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR. In 1976, he defended his Ph.D. thesis on the mechanism of super-powerful laser pulse generation.
His scientific career was also associated with teaching. Milinkevich worked at Hrodna University, taught, and headed a department at Sétif University in Algeria. He interned at the University of Montpellier in France and the University of California in the USA. He was the author of about 65 scientific papers and monographs.
However, Milinkevich became widely known in Belarus not as a physicist, but as a public figure and politician.
In 1990—1996, he was Deputy Chairman of the Hrodna City Executive Committee, where he was responsible for education, culture, healthcare, youth, sports, media, religion, international relations, and the preservation of historical heritage.
Hrodna held a special place in his activities. Milinkevich founded and headed the public organization "Ratuša" (Town Hall), which focused on city development and the preservation of its historical heritage. The authorities liquidated the organization in 2003.
Milinkevich was also a local historian. In the late 1980s, he participated in the search for and found the burial place of the last King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Stanisław August Poniatowski, in Vaŭčyn. In Hrodna, he organized the restoration of the ancient tower clock on Farny Church.
In 2001, Milinkevich was the head of Semyon Domaš's election campaign headquarters during the presidential elections.
The main political chapter of his biography was the 2006 presidential elections. At the Congress of Democratic Forces in October 2005, Milinkevich was chosen as the single candidate from the democratic forces. According to official results, he received 6% of the votes in the election and took second place after Alexander Lukashenka. In reality, he garnered many more votes, but the elections were already falsified.
Milinkevich's calm, intelligent political style contrasted with the populism characteristic of most post-Soviet politicians.
After the elections, he founded the public movement "For Freedom" and was its leader until 2016 — exactly two terms. And by this, he also set a new political standard, distinguishing himself from many post-Soviet party leaders.
In 2020, he showed caution, fearing that Moscow was manipulating events, but when the situation became clear, he became an freelance advisor to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, one of the organizers of the "Free Belarusian University".
Alexander Milinkevich belonged to a generation of Belarusian intellectuals for whom science, culture, local self-governance, and politics were integral parts of public life. He rose from a physicist and lecturer to one of the most prominent representatives of the Belarusian democratic opposition.
On November 25, 2025 (likely 2023 or 2024 given the context of "last year"), Alexander Milinkevich underwent an operation to remove a blood clot that blocked 80% of his carotid artery. During the operation, severe bleeding occurred, after which the politician fell into a very critical condition in intensive care. Doctors put him into a medically induced coma and eventually managed to stabilize the situation. But he was never able to recover.