Politician, physicist. Head of the Belarusian Parliament of the Supreme Soviet of the Belarus (1991–1994). On 8th December 1991, together with the Presidents of Russia (Boris Yeltsin) and Ukraine (Leonid Kravchuk), signed the Declaration dissolving the Soviet Union. He supported free market reforms and played a key role in the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Before his Presidency he was a prominent Belarusian Scientist, a corresponding Member of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences; Doctor and Professor in Physics and Mathematics, author of award–winning textbooks (over 150 articles and 70 inventions), and recipient of numerous state awards. Chairman of the political party Gramada running for the 2006 presidential elections. In June 2006 he was awarded the Jan Nowak Jeziorański Award.
