Stanislaw Shushkievich

Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich was a Belarusian politician and scientist who served as the first head of state of independent Belarus after it seceded from the Soviet Union, serving as the first chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1991 to 1994. He supported social democratic reforms and played a key role in the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He later became an opposition leader against Alexander Lukashenko.