Belarus has always been an anomaly amongst the post soviet states. Nostalgia for the USSR and the memories of a bygone era are manifested in various statues and memorials relating to the former Soviet Union found around the country. 

Outside a government building, a statue of Vladimir Lenin looms over the square, looking powerfully into the distance. However, the Belarus under the statue’s careful watch is now an independent state and far from the Soviet Union Lenin once knew.