Issued the year Belarus adopted its second constitution under Lukashenko's consolidated presidency, this rouble honors the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz — born in 1798 in Zaosie, within the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which Belarus now claims as part of its cultural inheritance. That claim is not uncontested: Poland considers Mickiewicz equally its own, and Lithuania has staked the same ground. A coin is a convenient way to plant a flag without starting a diplomatic incident.
Issued the year Belarus adopted its second constitution under Lukashenko's consolidated presidency, this rouble honors the Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz — born in 1798 in Zaosie, within the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which Belarus now claims as part of its cultural inheritance. That claim is not uncontested: Poland considers Mickiewicz equally its own, and Lithuania has staked the same ground. A coin is a convenient way to plant a flag without starting a diplomatic incident.