BELARUS - A LAND OF MULTICULTURALISM?

Taking the Republic of Belarus and its capital city, Minsk, as a case study of multiculturalism in the eastern EU borderland, the article presents the historical roots of the multicultural quality of Belarusian society (the complexity of ethnic composition of the population, its religious plurality, and bilingualism). The Soviet period (the Marxist ideology of proletarian internationalism) supported Belarusian multiculturalism on the normative level. In the post-Soviet times the Republic of Belarus has kept this historical heritage (within the limits imposed by the political regime). Currently, neighboring the EU on the East, Belarus can (under certain conditions) further develop its multicultural features and become a peaceful multicultural 'bridge' between the East and the West.