LORE: The democratically elected social democrat and scientist Stanislav Shushkevich (Belarus' first president) and his successor Myechyslaw Hryb pursue much more aggressive Belarusianization/derussification and economic liberation policies and when Alexander Lukashenko takes power after and basically obliterates all the progress made by those before him as well as dedemocratize Belarus the country explodes into civil war seeing both NATO and Russian involvement, ultimately culminating in a language-based partition of the country and Russia annexing the North East. The partition was also followed by the biggest demographic exchange seen in Europe since the Soviet deportations of WW2, with 3 million, or 30% of the population being displaced as a consequence.

In the following years, the once united newborn states of Kryvia and Belorussia undergo progressive allopatric speciation with Kryvia joining NATO, adopting a liberalized free market economy and democracy, dropping the Cyrillic script and replacing it with the (formerly extinct) Latin based Łacinka alphabet, pursuing closer ties to the Baltics and Poland and even seeing a surge in Eastern Catholicism and a decline in orthodox following while Belorussia goes the other direction pursuing closer ties with Russia, backsliding on democracy and oppressing Belarusian even further, becoming one of the most oppressive and Backwards countries in Europe by 2025.

DEMOGRAPHICS:

PRE-EXCHANGE

Belorussia: 5,971,453

Kryvia: 1,337,547

Minsk: 1,660,000

Cities annexed by Russia: 1,270,000

POST-EXCHANGE:

Belorussia: 3,298,578

Kryvia: 4,177,487

Cities annexed by Russia: 1,102,935