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Travel to Belarus — Unbiased reviews and great deals
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Belarus
Republic of Belarus
National Name: Respublika
Byelarus'
President: Alyaksandr Lukashenka
(1994)
Prime Minister: Syarhey Sidorski
(2003)
Current government officials
Total area: 80,154 sq mi (207,600 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 9,685,768
(growth rate: –0.3%); birth rate: 9.6/1000; infant mortality
rate: 6.5/1000; life expectancy: 70.3; density per sq km: 46
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Mensk (Minsk), 1,769,500
Other large cities: Gomel, 502,200;
Mogilyov, 374,000; Vitebsk, 355,800; Grodno, 314,100; Brest,
306,300; Bobruysk, 228,100
Monetary unit: Belorussian ruble
Languages:
Belorussian (White Russian), Russian,
other
Ethnicity/race:
Belorussian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish 3.9%,
Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1% (1999)
Religion:
Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman
Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)
National Holiday:
Independence Day, July 3
Literacy rate: 100% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $105.2billion; per capita $10,900. Real growth rate:
8.2%. Inflation: 8.4%. Unemployment: 1.6% (2005 est.)
officially registered unemployed; large number of underemployed
workers. Arable land: 26.77%. Agriculture: grain,
potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk. Labor force:
4.3 million (Dec. 31, 2005); agriculture 14%, industry 34.7%,
services 51.3% (2003 est.). Industries: metal-cutting machine
tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, televisions,
chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators.
Natural resources: forests, peat deposits, small quantities
of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk,
sand, gravel, clay. Exports: $23.04 billion f.o.b. (2007
est.): machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, metals,
textiles, foodstuffs. Imports: $27.57 billion f.o.b. (2007
est.): mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals,
foodstuffs, metals. Major trading partners: Russia, UK,
Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Ukraine (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 3,368,000 (2006); mobile cellular: 2,239,300 (2004).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995).
Internet hosts: 20,973 (2005). Internet users: 1.6
million (2005).
Transportation: Railways: total: 5,512
km (2004). Highways: total: 79,990 km; paved: 69,351 km;
unpaved: 10,639 km (2004). Waterways: 2,500 km (use limited
by location on perimeter of country and by shallowness) (2003).
Ports and harbors: Mazyr. Airports: 101 (2005).
International disputes: 1997 boundary
treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial
claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security; the
whole boundary with Latvia and more than half the boundary with
Lithuania remains undemarcated; discussions toward economic and
political union with Russia proceed slowly
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Much of Belarus (formerly the Belorussian Soviet
Socialist Republic of the USSR, and then Byelorussia) is a hilly lowland
with forests, swamps, and numerous rivers and lakes. There are wide rivers
emptying into the Baltic and Black seas. Its forests cover over one-third
of the land and its peat marshes are a valuable natural resource. The
largest lake is Narach, 31 sq mi (79.6 sq km).
Government
Republic.
History
In the 5th century A.D., Belarus (also known as White Russia) was
colonized by east Slavic tribes. Kiev dominated it from the 9th to 12th
century. After the destruction of Kiev by the Mongols in the 13th century,
the territory was conquered by the dukes of Lithuania, although it
retained a degree of autonomy. Belarus became part of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania, which merged with Poland in 1569. Following the partitions of
Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795, in which Poland was divided among Russia,
Prussia, and Austria, Belarus became part of the Russian empire.
Following World War I, Belarus proclaimed itself
a republic, only to find itself occupied by the Red Army soon after its
March 1918 announcement. The Polish-Soviet War of 1918–1921 was
fought to decide the fate of Belarus. West Belarus was ceded to Poland;
the larger eastern part formed the Belorussian SSR, and was then joined to
the USSR in 1922. In 1939, the Soviet Union took back West Belarus from
Poland under the secret protocol of the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact and
incorporated it into the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Occupied
by the Nazis in World War II, Belarus was one of the war's most devastated
battlefields.
When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in
Ukraine exploded in 1986, 70% of its radioactive fallout fell on the
Belorussian SSR. Cancer and other illnesses have multiplied as a
result.
Expanded Presidential Power Leads to Oppression and Corruption
Belarus declared its sovereignty in July 1990
and its independence in Aug. 1991. It became a cofounder of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Dec. 1991. In Jan. 1994, the
country's parliament ousted its reform-minded leader, Stanislav
Shushkevich, in protest against his support for market economics. He was
replaced by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who, over the next two years, greatly
expanded the powers of the presidency. Lukashenka sought to renew ties
with Russia, and, with much fanfare, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty in
April 1997 aimed at significantly increasing cooperation between the two
states, stopping just short of union. The Russian financial crisis that
began in fall 1998 severely affected Belarus's Soviet-style planned
economy.
The EU and the U.S. have denounced the
increasingly oppressive political atmosphere and human rights violations
in Belarus under the Soviet-style authoritarianism of President
Lukashenka. In 1999, the year Lukashenka was to step down, he rigged a
national referendum allowing him to cancel the elections and remain
president. Lukashenka's government has been accused of running a death
squad that has killed dozens, including opposition party members and
underworld figures. After harassing the opposition and curtailing their
campaign activities, Lukashenka won reelection in the Sept. 9, 2001,
presidential race. In 2004, the Council of Europe strongly criticized the
Belarus government for blocking investigation into the disappearance of
four dissidents in 1999 and 2000.
Presidential elections in March 2006 reelected
Lukashenka with 83% of the vote. Supporters of opposition candidates took
to the streets of Minsk to protest the results. The police cracked down on
the demonstrations and arrested dozens. The U.S. and other Western nations
declared the election fraudulent, and the EU imposed economic sanctions on
Lukashenka and a number of his ministers.
Relationship With Russia Is Tested
Despite the close ties of Russia and Belarus,
the two countries clashed over imported Russian gas in early 2007. In Dec.
2006, Russia doubled the price of gas it exported to Belarus, and then
imposed a large duty on oil exports. In response, Belarus imposed a tax on
Russian gas in Jan. 2007. Russia then shut off an oil export pipeline to
Europe (which spelled trouble for Europe, since half of all European
exports of Russian gas are transported through Belarus). By mid-January,
Russia agreed to cut its oil duty and Belarus agreed to cut its tax.
In September 2008, President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka won all 110 seats in parliamentary elections, but European
monitors criticized the flawed counting system in Belarus.
See also Encyclopedia: Belarus. U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Belarus Ministry of Statistics and Analysis president.gov.by/Minstat/en/main.html .
Fact Monster/Information Please®
Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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