On February 3, 2026, a meeting of the Board of the Department of Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus was held. The meeting summarized the work of the archival sector of the Republic of Belarus for 2025 and identified objectives for 2026

Participating in the work of the Board were: Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus E.I.Kovalenko, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus O.N.Kot, Head of the Department of Records Management and Protocol Work of the Office of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus N.V.Shastilovskaya, Chief Advisor of the Department of Education and Social and Cultural Sphere of the Office of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus M.V.Leshkevich, Dean of the Faculty of History of BSU, Doctor of Historical Sciences A.G.Kokhanovsky, employees of the Department of Archives and Records Management, heads of structural divisions of the main justice departments of the regional executive committees overseeing archival activities, directors of republican archival institutions, as well as heads of regional and zonal state archives (via videoconference).

O.L.Voinov, Director of the Department of Archives and Records Management, delivered the final report, noting that the archival sector had completed all activities under the State Program «Culture of Belarus» for 2021–2025.

The National Archival Fund of the Republic of Belarus has been replenished with more than 158,000 storage units.

The archives have digitized more than 2,600,000 electronic pages.

More than 300 exhibitions have been organized and held. The main themes of the exhibition events were the 80th anniversary of the Soviet people’s victory in the Great Patriotic War, as well as significant dates and anniversaries in 2025.

In 2025, 15 collections and four monographs were published. Among the new publications, the five books in the «History for Schoolchildren» series, already published, are noteworthy.

The Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents has produced three new documentaries: «The History of the Great Victory» and «Hero Fortress», dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and «Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve», marking the 100th anniversary of this state nature conservation institution.

The archival sector continues to systematically engage with young people. As part of the national «Archives for Schools» campaign, state archives have held over 1,600 events, attended by over 22,000 schoolchildren and students.

For the third year in a row, the Media Marathon for Teens «Without Statute of Limitations: Unconquered» was organized and held in Molodechno. The project aims to fill the media space with content that prevents the distortion of history.

In December 2025, the II Children’s Partisan Readings were organized and held. Schoolchildren from Yekaterinburg, Perm, and Petrozavodsk participated in the event. In 2025, office workflows in several ministries were analyzed and practical seminars were held. A total of 190 seminars were held by state archives during the reporting period as part of explanatory events. Work on document flow optimization will continue in 2026.

It is planned to increase the share of electronic files in the total annual document flow to at least 50% by 2030.

During the reporting period, active work was underway to strengthen the material and technical infrastructure of state archival institutions. Modern archival complexes were created in Grodno and Mogilev, construction of the State Archives in Minsk is ongoing, and large-scale reconstruction of the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents is underway.

A.E.Rybakov, Director of the Belarusian Research Institute of Documentation and Archival Science, presented a report entitled «Optimization of Document Generation and Document Flow as an Important Condition for Debureaucratizing Management Processes».

Deputy Director of the National Archives of Belarus S.V.Kulinok delivered a report titled «Popular Science Publishing Projects – a Promising Area for Archival Institutions in Belarus».

In his closing remarks, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus E.I.Kovalenko noted that, thanks to state support, the material and technical base has been significantly strengthened and new archival complexes have been commissioned. This, in turn, has enabled the archives to begin eliminating the backlog of documents held by organizations beyond the established deadline.

Among the priority tasks, he identified improving document flow in national government agencies and intensifying educational work by archival institutions, including online.

In the second part of the board meeting, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus E.I.Kovalenko and Director of the Department of Archives and Records Management O.L.Voinov presented awards to employees of state archival institutions and state archives.

The exhibitions «Belarusian Women – Bright Destinies» and «The Archival Industry of Belarus at the Current Stage» were presented at the board meeting, as well as publishing projects of state archives for 2025.

1. Speech by O.L.Voinov, Director of the Department

2. Speech by A.E.Rybakov, Director of the Belarusian Research Institute of Documentation and Archival Affairs

3. Speech by S.V Kulinok, Deputy Director of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus

4. Speech by M.V.Leshkevich, Chief Advisor of the Department of Education and Social and Cultural Sphere of the Office of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus

5. Closing remarks by E.I.Kovalenko, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus

6. During the meeting

7. Presentation of the award to the best republican archive (NARB)

8. Presentation of the award to the best regional archive (GAVt)

9. Presentation of the award to the best zonal archive (ZGA in Molodechno)

10. Presentation of the «Leading Archivist of Belarus» badge to S.V.Kulinok, Deputy Director of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus

11. Awarding of the 2nd category archivist of the Zonal State Archives in Borisov L.A.Kudina