Belarus - Wikipedia

This article is about the Republic of Belarus. For other uses, see Belarus ( disambiguation )
country in Eastern Europe
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Belarus, [ a ] officially the Republic of Belarus, [ b ] and historically Byelorussia, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the confederacy, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwestern. Covering an area of 207,600 feather kilometres ( 80,200 sq mile ) and with a population of 9.3 million, Belarus is the thirteenth-largest and the twentieth-most populous country in Europe. The country is administratively divided into seven regions. Minsk is the capital and largest city. Until the twentieth hundred, different states at respective times controlled the lands of contemporary Belarus, including Kievan Rus ‘, the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the russian Empire. In the consequence of the russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for authenticity amidst the Civil War, ultimately ending in the arise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a establish component democracy of the Soviet Union in 1922. After the Polish-Soviet War, Belarus lost about half of its territory to Poland. Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern human body in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II. [ 11 ] [ 12 ] [ 13 ] During World War II, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. [ 14 ] The democracy was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945, the byelorussian SSR became a establish extremity of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union. The fantan of the democracy proclaimed the reign of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 25 August 1991. [ 15 ] Following the adoption of a fresh fundamental law in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko was elected Belarus ‘s first president in the country ‘s first and entirely loose election post-independence, serving as president ever since. [ 16 ] Lukashenko ‘s government is authoritarian with a hapless human rights read due to widespread human rights abuses. [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ] Belarus is the lone country in Europe formally using the end penalty. Lukashenko has continued a issue of Soviet-era policies, such as state possession of bombastic sections of the economy. In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, forming the Union State. Belarus is a grow country, ranking 53rd in the Human Development Index. It has been a member of the United Nations since its establish american samoa well as joined the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU, the OSCE and the Non-Aligned Movement. It has shown no aspirations for joining the European Union but however maintains a bilateral relationship with the bloc, and alike participates in two europium projects : the Eastern Partnership and the Baku Initiative .

etymology

The name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus’, i, White Rus’. There are respective claims to the origin of the name White Rus’. [ 21 ] An ethno-religious hypothesis suggests that the list used to describe the depart of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated by and large by Slavs who had been Christianized early, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts. [ 22 ] An alternative explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. [ 21 ] A third gear hypothesis suggests that the erstwhile Rus ‘ lands that were not conquered by the Tatars ( i.e., Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev ) had been referred to as White Rus’. [ 21 ] A fourth theory suggests that the color white was associated with the west, and Belarus was the western depart of Rus in the 9th to 13th centuries. [ 23 ]
The name Rus is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, therefore Belarus is much referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia. The list first appeared in german and latin medieval literature ; the chronicles of Jan of Czarnków note the imprisonment of lithuanian grand duke Jogaila and his mother at “ Albae Russiae, Poloczk dicto “ in 1381. [ 24 ] The first gear known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the late-16th hundred by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey, who was known for his close contacts with the Russian Royal Court. [ 25 ] During the seventeenth hundred, the russian tsars used White Rus to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [ 26 ] The term Belorussia ( russian : Белору́ссия, the latter partially exchangeable but spelled and stressed differently from Росси́я, Russia ) foremost rose in the days of the Russian Empire, and the russian Tsar was normally styled “ the Tsar of All the Russias ”, as Russia or the Russian Empire was formed by three parts of Russia—the Great, Little, and White. [ 27 ] This asserted that the territories are all russian and all the peoples are besides russian ; in the case of the Belarusians, they were variants of the russian people. [ 28 ] After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term White Russia caused some confusion, as it was besides the name of the military violence that opposed the red Bolsheviks. [ 29 ] During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as separate of a national consciousness. In westerly Belarus under Polish control, Byelorussia became normally used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno during the interwar period. [ 30 ] The term Byelorussia ( its names in other languages such as English being based on the russian shape ) was only used formally until 1991. formally, the full name of the country is Republic of Belarus ( Рэспубліка Беларусь, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus ( help · information ) ). [ 31 ] [ 32 ] In Russia, the use of Belorussia still is very coarse. [ 33 ] In Lithuanian, besides Baltarusija ( White Russia ), Belarus is besides called Gudija. [ 34 ] [ 35 ] The etymology of the word Gudija is not clear. By one of the hypothesis the son derives from the Old Prussian appoint Gudwa, which, in call on, is related to the human body Żudwa, which is a contort version of Sudwa, Sudovia. Sudovia, in its turn, is one of the names of Yotvingians. Another hypothesis connects the news with Gothic Kingdom that occupied parts of territory of modern Belarus and Ukraine in 4th and 5th centuries. The self-naming of Goths was Gutans and Gytos which are close to Gudija. Yet another hypothesis is based on the mind that Gudija in lithuanian means “ the other ” and may have been used historically by Lithuanians to refer to any people who did not speak lithuanian. [ 36 ]

history

early history

From 5000 to 2000 BC, Bandkeramik cultures predominated. In summation, remains from the Dnieper–Donets culture were found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine. [ 37 ] Cimmerians and early pastoralists roamed through the sphere by 1,000 BC, and by 500 AD, Slavs had taken up mansion, which was circumscribed by the Scythians who roamed its outskirts. Invaders from Asia, among whom were the Huns and Avars, swept through c. 400–600 AD, but were unable to dislodge the Slavic presence. [ 38 ] The region that is nowadays Belarus was first settled by Baltic tribes in the third century. The Przeworsk culture was discovered in what is today Poland, and the Zarubintsy acculturation further east in what is today Ukraine. Around the fifth century, the area was taken over by Slavic tribes. The coup d’etat was partially ascribable to the lack of military coordination of the Balts but the gradual acculturation of the Balts into Slavic culture was peaceful in nature. [ 39 ]

Kievan Rus ‘

Rus’ principalities before the Mongol and Lithuanian invasions In the ninth hundred the district of modern Belarus became part of Kievan Rus ‘, a huge East Slavic state ruled by the Rurikid dynasty. Upon the death of Kievan Rus ‘ ruler Yaroslav I the Wise in 1054, the express split into independent principalities. [ 40 ] The Battle on the Nemiga River in 1067 was one of the more celebrated events of the period, the date of which is considered the founding date of Minsk. many early Rus ‘ principalities were about razed or badly affected by a major Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century, but the lands of contemporary Belarus avoided the brunt of the invasion and finally joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [ 41 ] There are no sources of military seizure, but the annals affirm the alliance and united extraneous policy of Polotsk and Lithuania for decades. [ 42 ] Trying to avoid the Tatar Yoke, the Principality of Minsk sought protective covering from lithuanian princes further north and in 1242, the Principality of Minsk became a part of the expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania. internalization into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resulted in an economic, political and ethno-cultural union of belarusian lands. [ 43 ] Of the principalities held by the Duchy, nine of them were settled by a population that would finally become the Belarusians. [ 44 ] During this time, the Duchy was involved in several military campaigns, including fighting on the side of Poland against the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 ; the joint victory allowed the Duchy to control the northwestern borderlands of Eastern Europe. [ 45 ] The Muscovites, led by Ivan III of Moscow, began military campaigns in 1486 in an try to incorporate the former lands of Kievan Rus ‘, specifically the territories of contemporary Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. [ 46 ]

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

On 2 February 1386, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were joined in a personal union through a marriage of their rulers. [ 47 ] This union set in motion the developments that finally resulted in the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created in 1569 by the Union of Lublin. [ 48 ] [ 49 ] The lithuanian nobles were forced to go for reconciliation because of the menace coming from Muscovy. To strengthen the independence in the format of the union, three editions of the Statutes of Lithuania were issued in the sixteenth century. The third base Article of the Statute establishes that all lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania will be everlastingly in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and never enter as a share of other states. It allowed the right field to own land within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to only its own families. Anyone from outside the Duchy gaining rights to a property would actually own it only after swearing commitment to the Grand Duke of Lithuania. These articles were aimed to defend the rights of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania nobility against Polish, Prussian and other aristocracies of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. [ citation needed ] In the years following the union, the process of gradual Polonization of both Lithuanians and Ruthenians gained brace momentum. In culture and social life, both the polish linguistic process and Catholicism became dominant, and in 1696, Polish replaced Ruthenian as the official language—with the Ruthenian language being banned from administrative use. [ 50 ] At the like clock time, the Ruthenian peasants continued to speak their own speech and were separate of the belarusian Greek Catholic Church, which was formed by the Poles after the Union of Brest. The church entered full communion with the See of Rome while keeping their Byzantine holy eucharist in the Church Slavonic language, Statutes were initially issued in the Ruthenian terminology entirely and late besides in Polish. Around 1840 the Statutes were banned by the russian czar following the November Uprising. Modern ukrainian lands used it until 1860s. [ citation needed ]

russian empire

The union between Poland and Lithuania ended in 1795 with the Third Partition of Poland by Imperial Russia, Prussia, and Austria. [ 51 ] The belarusian territories acquired by the russian Empire under the reign of Catherine II [ 52 ] were included into the belarusian Governorate ( russian : Белорусское генерал-губернаторство ) in 1796 and held until their occupation by the german Empire during World War I. [ 53 ] Under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures were repressed. Policies of Polonization [ 54 ] changed by Russification, [ 55 ] which included the return to Orthodox Christianity of Belarusian Uniates. belarusian language was banned in schools while in neighboring Samogitia primary school department of education with Samogitian literacy was allowed. [ 56 ] In a Russification drive in the 1840s, Nicholas I prohibited practice of the belarusian language in public schools, campaigned against belarusian publications and tried to pressure those who had converted to Catholicism under the Poles to reconvert to the Orthodox faith. In 1863, economic and cultural press exploded in a disgust, led by Konstanty Kalinowski ( besides known as Kastus ). After the fail disgust, the russian government reintroduced the manipulation of Cyrillic to Belarusian in 1864 and no documents in belarusian were permitted by the russian government until 1905. [ 57 ] During the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Belarus foremost declared independence under german occupation on 25 March 1918, forming the belarusian People ‘s Republic. [ 58 ] [ 59 ] Immediately afterwards, the Polish–Soviet War ignited, and the territory of Belarus was divided between Poland and soviet Russia. [ 60 ] The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic exists as a government in exile ever since then ; in fact, it is presently the world ‘s longest serving politics in expatriate. [ 61 ]

early states and interwar time period

The belarusian People ‘s Republic was the first attack to create an independent belarusian submit under the identify “ Belarus ”. Despite significant efforts, the state ceased to exist, chiefly because the district was continually dominated by the german Imperial Army and the Imperial russian Army in World War I, and then the Bolshevik Red Army. It existed from only 1918 to 1919 but created prerequisites for the formation of a belarusian state. The option of name was credibly based on the fact that core members of the newly formed government were educated in czarist universities, with correspond emphasis on the political orientation of West-Russianism. [ 62 ] The Republic of Central Lithuania was a ephemeral political entity, which was the end try to restore Lithuania in the historical conspiracy state ( it was besides supposed to create Lithuania Upper and Lithuania Lower ). The democracy was created in 1920 following the spy rebellion of soldiers of the 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division of the polish Army under Lucjan Żeligowski. Centered on the diachronic capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilna ( lithuanian : Vilnius, polish : Wilno ), for 18 months the entity served as a buffer zone country between Poland, upon which it depended, and Lithuania, which claimed the area. [ 63 ] After a variety show of delays, a quarrel election took place on 8 January 1922, and the district was annexed to Poland. Żeligowski late in his memoir which was published in London in 1943 condemned the annexation of the Republic by Poland, a well as the policy of closing belarusian schools and cosmopolitan neglect of Marshal Józef Piłsudski ‘s alliance plans by Polish ally. [ 64 ] Years earlier interrogation composition of 19-year-old revolutionary Pilsudski of 10 March 1887 indicated that he called himself a “ belarusian lord ”. [ 65 ]
meet in the Kurapaty woods, 1989, where between 1937 and 1941 from 30,000 to 250,000 people, including belarusian intelligentsia members, were murdered by the NKVD during the Great Purge In 1919 a separate of Belarus under Russian rule emerged as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic ( Byelorussian SSR ). soon thereafter it merged to form the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR. The contest lands were divided between Poland and the Soviet Union after the war ended in 1921, and the belarusian SSR became a initiation member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. [ 58 ] [ 66 ] In the 1920s and 1930s, soviet agrarian and economic policies, including collectivization and five-year plans for the national economy, led to famine and political repression. [ 67 ] The western character of modern Belarus remained part of the Second Polish Republic. [ 68 ] [ citation needed ] [ 69 ] After an early menstruation of liberalization, tensions between increasingly chauvinistic polish government and assorted increasingly separatist cultural minorities started to grow, and the belarusian minority was no exception. [ 70 ] [ 71 ] The polonization drive was inspired and influenced by the polish National Democracy, led by Roman Dmowski, who advocated refusing Belarusians and Ukrainians the veracious for a free national development. [ 72 ] A Belarusian organization, the Belarusian Peasants’ and Workers’ Union, was banned in 1927, and opposition to Polish government was met with state repressions. [ 70 ] [ 71 ] Nonetheless, compared to the ( larger ) ukrainian minority, Belarusians were much less politically mindful and active, and therefore suffered fewer repressions than the Ukrainians. [ 70 ] [ 71 ] In 1935, after the death of Józef Piłsudski, a new wave of repressions was released upon the minorities, with many [ [ belarusian Orthodox Church ] Orthodox churches ] ] and Belarusian schools being closed. [ 70 ] [ 71 ] Use of the belarusian lyric was discouraged. [ 73 ] belarusian leadership was sent to Bereza Kartuska prison. [ 74 ]

World War II

A young man straddles the artillery on a soviet KV-2 tank in Vitebsk in 1941. In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Poland, marking the begin of World War II. The Soviets invaded and annexed much of eastern Poland, which had been region of the area since the Peace of Riga two decades earlier. much of the northerly section of this area was added to the Byelorussian SSR, and now constitutes West Belarus. [ 11 ] [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 75 ] The Soviet-controlled byelorussian People ‘s Council officially took see of the territories, whose populations consisted of a mix of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews, on 28 October 1939 in Białystok. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The defense of Brest Fortress was the foremost major battle of Operation Barbarossa. The byelorussian SSR was the hardest-hit Soviet republic in World War II ; it remained in Nazi hands until 1944. The german Generalplan Ost called for the extinction, ejection, or enslavement of most or all Belarusians for the aim of providing more living space in the East for Germans. [ 76 ] Most of western Belarus became part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941, but in 1943 the german authorities allowed local collaborators to set up a customer state, the belarusian Central Council. [ 77 ] The german occupation in 1941–1944 and war on the Eastern Front devastated Belarus. During that time, 209 out of 290 towns and cities were destroyed, 85 % of the democracy ‘s industry, and more than one million buildings. After the war, it was estimated that 2.2 million local inhabitants had died and of those some 810,000 were combatants—some extraneous. This calculate represented a stagger one-fourth of the prewar population. In the 1990s some raised the calculate tied higher, to 2.7 million. [ 78 ] The jewish population of Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. [ 14 ] [ 79 ] [ 80 ] The population of Belarus did not regain its pre-war level until 1971. [ 79 ]

Post-war

After the war, Belarus was among the 51 establish member states of the United Nations Charter and as such it was allowed an extra vote at the UN, on top of the Soviet Union ‘s vote. Vigorous postwar reconstruction promptly followed the end of the war and the byelorussian SSR became a major center of manufacture in the westerly USSR, creating jobs and attracting ethnic Russians. [ citation needed ] The borders of the Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn, in harmonize with the 1919-proposed Curzon Line. [ 53 ] Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the belarusian SSR from western influences. [ 79 ] This policy involved sending Russians from versatile parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key positions in the belarusian SSR government. After Stalin ‘s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev continued his harbinger ‘s cultural hegemony program, stating, “ The preferably we all start speaking Russian, the debauched we shall build communism. ” [ 79 ] soviet belarusian communist politician Andrei Gromyko, who served as soviet foreign minister ( 1957–1985 ) and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet ( 1985–1988 ), was responsible for many top decisions on soviet foreign policy until he was replaced by Eduard Shevardnadze. [ 81 ] In 1986, the Byelorussian SSR was contaminated with most ( 70 % ) of the nuclear fallout from the explosion at the Chernobyl office plant located 16 kilometer beyond the margin in the neighbor ukrainian SSR. [ 82 ] [ 83 ] By the recently 1980s, political liberalization led to a home revival, with the Belarusian Popular Front becoming a major pro-independence force. [ 84 ] [ 85 ]

independence

In March 1990, elections for seats in the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR took stead. Though the opposition candidates, largely associated with the pro-independence Belarusian Popular Front, took merely 10 % of the seats. [ 86 ] Belarus declared itself sovereign on 27 July 1990 by issuing the declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. [ 87 ] Mass protests erupted in spring 1991 and became known as the belarusian revolution. With the support of the Communist Party, the area ‘s name was changed to the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991. [ 86 ] Stanislau Shushkevich, the chair of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, met with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine on 8 December 1991 in Białowieża Forest to formally declare the profligacy of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. [ 86 ] A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in which the functions of prime minister were given to the President of Belarus. Two-round elections for the presidency on ( 24 June 1994 and 10 July 1994 ) [ 88 ] catapulted the once obscure Alexander Lukashenko into national bulge. He garnered 45 % of the vote in the first round and 80 % [ 86 ] in the second, defeating Vyacheslav Kebich who received 14 % of the vote. Lukashenko was re-elected in 2001, in 2006, in 2010 and again in 2015. The 2000s saw a number of economic disputes between Belarus and its primary economic partner, Russia. The first one was the 2004 Russia–Belarus energy quarrel when Russian energy colossus Gazprom ceased the consequence of gasoline into Belarus because of price disagreements. The 2007 Russia–Belarus energy dispute centered on accusations by Gazprom that Belarus was siphoning oil off of the Druzhba grapevine that runs through Belarus. Two years belated the alleged Milk War, a trade dispute, started when Russia wanted Belarus to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and through a serial of events ended up banning the meaning of dairy products from Belarus. In 2011, Belarus suffered a severe economic crisis attributed to Lukashenko ‘s government ‘s centralised control of the economy. [ 89 ] Inflation reached 108.7 % and a currency black marketplace was created, recovery was unmanageable. [ 89 ] Around the lapp prison term the 2011 Minsk Metro fail occurred in which 15 people were killed and 204 were injured. Two suspects, who were arrested within two days, confessed to being the perpetrators and were executed by shooting in 2012. The official interpretation of events as publicised by the belarusian politics was questioned in the unprecedented give voice of the UN Security Council instruction condemning “ the apparent terrorist attack ” intimating the possibility that the belarusian politics itself was behind the bombard. [ 90 ]
Mass protests erupted across the state following the disputed 2020 belarusian presidential election, [ 91 ] in which Lukashenko sought a sixth term in office. [ 92 ] Neighbouring countries Poland and Lithuania do not recognize Lukashenko as the legalize president of Belarus and the lithuanian government has allotted a residency for main enemy candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other members of the belarusian opposition in Vilnius. [ 93 ] [ 94 ] [ 95 ] [ 96 ] [ 97 ] Neither is Lukashenko recognized as the legalize president of Belarus by the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom nor United States. [ 98 ] [ 99 ] [ 100 ] [ 101 ] The European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States have all imposed sanctions against Belarus because of the rig election and political oppression during the ongoing protests in the nation. [ 102 ] [ 103 ]

geography

Belarus lies between latitudes 51° and 57° N, and longitudes 23° and 33° E. Its reference from north to south is 560 kilometer ( 350 mile ), from west to east is 650 kilometer ( 400 nautical mile ). [ 104 ] It is landlocked, relatively flat, and contains large tracts of boggy land. [ 105 ] About 40 % of Belarus is covered by forests. [ 106 ] [ 107 ] The country lies within two ecoregions : Sarmatic mix forests and cardinal european interracial forests. [ 108 ] many streams and 11,000 lakes are found in Belarus. [ 105 ] Three major rivers run through the state : the Neman, the Pripyat, and the Dnieper. The Neman flows westbound towards the Baltic sea and the Pripyat flows eastward to the Dnieper ; the Dnieper flows southbound towards the Black Sea. [ 109 ]
The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara ( Dzyarzhynsk Hill ) at 345 metres ( 1,132 foot ), and the lowest indicate is on the Neman River at 90 m ( 295 foot ). [ 105 ] The average elevation of Belarus is 160 meter ( 525 foot ) above sea degree. [ 110 ] The climate features mild to cold winters, with January minimal temperatures ranging from −4 °C ( 24.8 °F ) in southwest ( Brest ) to −8 °C ( 17.6 °F ) in northeasterly ( Vitebsk ), and cool and damp summers with an average temperature of 18 °C ( 64.4 °F ). [ 111 ] Belarus has an average annual rain of 550 to 700 millimeter ( 21.7 to 27.6 in ). [ 111 ] The area is in the transitional zone between continental climates and maritime climates. [ 105 ] natural resources include peat deposits, minor quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomite ( limestone ), marl, chalk, backbone, gravel, and mud. [ 105 ] About 70 % of the radiation from neighboring Ukraine ‘s 1986 Chernobyl nuclear calamity entered belarusian district, and about a fifth of belarusian country ( chiefly farmland and forests in the southeastern regions ) was affected by radiation fallout. [ 112 ] The United Nations and other agencies have aimed to reduce the level of radiation in affected areas, particularly through the consumption of cesium binders and rapeseed cultivation, which are meant to decrease dirty levels of caesium-137. [ 113 ] [ 114 ] Belarus borders five countries : Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to the west, Russia to the north and the east, and Ukraine to the south. Treaties in 1995 and 1996 demarcated Belarus ‘s borders with Latvia and Lithuania, and Belarus ratified a 1997 treaty establishing the Belarus-Ukraine margin in 2009. [ 115 ] Belarus and Lithuania ratified final border limit documents in February 2007. [ 116 ]

government

In a formal sense Belarus is a presidential democracy enjoying a separation of powers, governed by a president and the National Assembly. In reality Belarus is an autocracy where power is concentrated in the hands of the president, elections are not release and judicial independence is watery. [ 117 ] The term for each presidency is five years. Under the 1994 constitution, the president of the united states could serve for lone two terms as president of the united states, but a exchange in the constitution in 2004 eliminate condition limits. [ 118 ] Alexander Lukashenko has been the president of Belarus since 1994. In 1996, Lukashenko called for a controversial vote to extend the presidential term from five to seven years, and as a resultant role the election that was supposed to occur in 1999 was pushed bet on to 2001. The referendum on the annex was denounced as a “ fantastic ” forge by the head electoral officer, Viktar Hanchar, who was removed from the position for official matters only during the campaign. [ 119 ] The National Assembly is a bicameral parliament comprising the 110-member House of Representatives ( the lower family ) and the 64-member Council of the Republic ( the upper berth house ). [ 120 ]
The House of Representatives has the baron to appoint the prime curate, make built-in amendments, call for a vote of confidence on the prime curate, and make suggestions on alien and domestic policy. [ 121 ] The Council of the Republic has the exponent to select assorted government officials, conduct an impeachment trial of the president, and accept or reject the bills passed by the House of Representatives. Each chamber has the ability to veto any law passed by local officials if it is contrary to the fundamental law. [ 122 ] The government includes a Council of Ministers, headed by the premier minister and five deputy prime ministers. [ 123 ] The members of this council need not be members of the legislature and are appointed by the president. The judiciary comprises the Supreme Court and specialized courts such as the Constitutional Court, which deals with specific issues related to constitutional and business law. The judges of home courts are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Council of the Republic. For criminal cases, the highest court of entreaty is the Supreme Court. The belarusian Constitution forbids the use of special extrajudicial courts. [ 122 ] In the 2012 parliamentary election, 105 of the 110 members elected to the House of Representatives were not affiliated with any political party. The Communist Party of Belarus won 3 seats, and the Agrarian Party and Republican Party of Labour and Justice, one each. [ 124 ] Most non-partisans represent a wide setting of social organizations such as workers ‘ collectives, public associations, and civil society organizations, similar to the composing of the soviet legislature. [ 125 ]

Elections

The erstwhile flag of Belarus, used in 1918, then in 1943–44 and then between 1991 and 1995, is wide used as a symbol of opposition to the government of Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus has often been described as “ Europe ‘s last dictatorship ” by some media outlets, politicians and authors due to its authoritarian politics. [ 126 ] [ 127 ] [ 128 ] [ 129 ] The Council of Europe removed Belarus from its observer condition since 1997 as a response for election irregularities in the November 1996 constitutional referendum and fantan by-elections. [ 130 ] [ 131 ] Re-admission of the area into the council is pendent on the completion of benchmarks set by the council, including the improvement of homo rights, predominate of law, and democracy. [ 132 ]

extraneous relations

The belarusian SSR was one of the two soviet republics that joined the United Nations along with the ukrainian SSR as one of the original 51 members in 1945. [ 141 ] Belarus and Russia have been close trade partners and diplomatic allies since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Belarus is dependent on Russia for imports of bleak materials and for its export market. [ 142 ] The union of Russia and Belarus, a supranational confederation, was established in a 1996–99 series of treaties that called for monetary union, equal rights, individual citizenship, and a common extraneous and defense policy. however, the future of the union has been placed in doubt because of Belarus ‘s repeat delays of monetary union, the miss of a referendum date for the blueprint fundamental law, and a dispute over the petroleum trade. [ 142 ] [ 143 ] Belarus was a establish member of the Commonwealth of Independent States ( CIS ). [ 144 ] Belarus has trade agreements with respective european Union member states ( despite other penis states ‘ travel bachelor of arts in nursing on Lukashenko and top officials ), [ 145 ] including neighboring Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. [ 146 ] Travel bans imposed by the European Union have been lifted in the past in order to allow Lukashenko to attend diplomatic meetings and besides to engage his government and confrontation groups in dialogue. [ 147 ]
Leaders of Belarus, Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine at the acme in Minsk, 11–12 February 2015 bilateral relations with the United States are strained ; the United States had not had an ambassador in Minsk since 2007 and Belarus never had an ambassador in Washington since 2008. [ 148 ] [ 149 ] Diplomatic relations remained tense, and in 2004, the United States passed the Belarus Democracy Act, which authorized fund for anti-government Belarusian NGOs, and prohibited loans to the belarusian politics, except for human-centered purposes. [ 150 ] Sino-Belarusian relations have improved, [ 151 ] strengthened by the visit of President Lukashenko to China in October 2005. [ 152 ] Belarus besides has hard ties with Syria, [ 153 ] considered a identify partner in the Middle East. [ 154 ] In addition to the CIS, Belarus is a penis of the eurasian Economic Union ( previously the eurasian Economic Community ), the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, [ 146 ] the international Non-Aligned Movement since 1998, [ 155 ] and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe ( OSCE ). As an OSCE penis submit, Belarus ‘s international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission. [ 156 ] Belarus is included in the European Union ‘s european neighborhood Policy ( ENP ) which aims at bringing the EU and its neighbours closer in economic and geopolitical terms. [ 157 ]

military

Soldiers patrol in the Białowieża Forest on the belarusian border with Poland. major General Andrei Ravkov heads the Ministry of Defence, [ 158 ] and Alexander Lukashenko ( as president ) serves as Commander-in-Chief. [ 122 ] The armed forces were formed in 1992 using parts of the early Soviet Armed Forces on the modern republic ‘s territory. The transformation of the ex-Soviet forces into the Armed Forces of Belarus, which was completed in 1997, reduced the count of its soldiers by 30,000 and restructured its leadership and military formations. [ 159 ] Most of Belarus ‘s serve members are conscripts, who serve for 12 months if they have higher education or 18 months if they do not. [ 160 ] Demographic decreases in the Belarusians of conscription senesce have increased the importance of narrow soldiers, who numbered 12,000 in 2001. [ 161 ] In 2005, approximately 1.4 % of Belarus ‘s megascopic domestic product was devoted to military outgo. [ 162 ] Belarus has not expressed a desire to join NATO but has participated in the Individual Partnership Program since 1997, [ 163 ] and Belarus provides fueling and airspace back for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. [ 164 ] Belarus first began to cooperate with NATO upon signing documents to participate in their partnership for Peace Program in 1995. [ 165 ] however, Belarus can not join NATO because it is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. Tensions between NATO and Belarus peaked after the March 2006 presidential election in Belarus. [ 166 ]

Human rights and corruption

Belarus ‘s Democracy Index rating is the lowest in Europe, the state is labelled as “ not release ” by Freedom House, as “ repress ” in the Index of Economic Freedom, and is rated as the worst state for press exemption in Europe in the 2013–2014 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Belarus 157th out of 180 nations. [ 167 ] The belarusian government is besides criticized for human rights violations and its persecution of non-governmental organisations, freelancer journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians. [ 18 ] [ 168 ] Lukashenko announced a new jurisprudence in 2014 that will prohibit kolkhoz workers ( around 9 % of sum work force ) from leaving their jobs at will—a change of job and living placement will require license from governors. The law was compared with serfdom by Lukashenko himself. [ 169 ] [ 170 ] alike regulations were introduced for the forestry industry in 2012. [ 171 ] Belarus is the only european country still using das kapital punishment having carried out executions in 2011. [ 172 ] The judicial system in Belarus lacks independence and is subject to political hindrance. [ 173 ] Corrupt practices such as bribery often took position during tender processes, and whistleblower protection and home ombudsman are lacking in Belarus ‘s anti-corruption system. [ 174 ] On September 1, 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights declared that its experts received reports of 450 attested cases of torture and maltreatment of people who were arrested during the protests following the presidential election. The experts besides received reports of violence against women and children, including sexual abuse and rape with rubber batons. [ 175 ] At least three detainees suffered injuries indicative mood of intimate violence in Okrestino prison in Minsk or on the way there. The victims were hospitalized with intramuscular bleed of the rectum, anal fissure and bleed, and damage to the mucous membrane of the rectum. [ 176 ] In an interview from September 2020 Lukashenko claimed that detainees faked their bruises, saying, “ Some of the girls there had their butt painted in bluing ”. [ 177 ] On 23 May 2021, Belarusian authorities forcibly diverted a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius in order to detain confrontation activist and diarist Roman Protasevich along with his girlfriend ; in reaction, the European Union imposed stricter sanctions on Belarus. [ 178 ] In May 2021, Lukashenko threatened that he will flood the European Union with migrants and drugs as a answer to the sanctions. [ 179 ] In July 2021, Belarusian authorities launched a loanblend war by human traffic of migrants to the European Union. [ 180 ] lithuanian authorities and top european officials Ursula von five hundred Leyen, Josep Borrell condemned the use of migrants as a weapon and suggested that Belarus could be discipline to far sanctions. [ 181 ] In August 2021, belarusian officials, wearing uniforms, belly laugh shields and helmets, were recorded on television camera near the Belarus–Lithuania edge pushing and urging the migrants to cross the European Union margin. [ 182 ] Following the concede of humanitarian visa to an Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya and her husband, Poland besides accused Belarus for organizing a hybrid war as the count of migrants crossing the Belarus–Poland bound precipitously increased multiple times when compared to the 2020 statistics. [ 183 ] [ 184 ] Illegal migrants numbers besides exceeded the previous annual numbers in Latvia. [ 185 ] On 2 December 2021, the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Canada imposed newly sanctions on Belarus. [ 186 ]

administrative divisions

administrative divisions of Belarus Belarus is divided into six regions called oblasts ( belarusian : вобласць ; russian : область ), which are named after the cities that serve as their administrative centers : Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Minsk, and Vitebsk. [ 187 ] Each region has a provincial legislative agency, called a area council ( belarusian : абласны Савет Дэпутатаў ; russian : Областной Совет депутатов ), which is elected by its residents, and a provincial executive agency called a region administration ( belarusian : абласны выканаўчы камітэт ; russian : областной исполнительный комитет ), whose chair is appointed by the president of the united states. [ 188 ] Regions are further subdivided into raions, normally translated as districts ( belarusian : раён ; russian : район ). [ 187 ] Each raion has its own legislative authority, or raion council, ( belarusian : раённы Савет Дэпутатаў ; russian : районный Совет депутатов ) elected by its residents, and an administrator authority or raion government appointed by higher executive powers. The six regions are divided into 118 raions. [ 106 ] The city of Minsk is split into nine districts and enjoys especial condition as the nation ‘s capital. [ 189 ] It is run by an executive committee and has been granted a charter of self-government. [ 190 ]

economy

Belarus has trade relations with over 180 countries. The independent trading partners are Russia, which accounts for about 45 % of belarusian exports and 55 % of imports, and the EU countries, which account for 25 % of exports and 20 % of imports. [ 191 ]
A graphic depiction of Belarus ‘s merchandise exports in 28 colour-coded categories In 2019 the contribution of fabricate in GDP was 31 %, over two-thirds of this sum falls on manufacturing industries. The number of people employed in the industry is 34.7 % of the working population. [ 192 ] The growth rate is much lower than for the economy as a whole—about 2.2 % in 2021. At the fourth dimension of the adjournment of the Soviet Union in 1991, Belarus was one of the world ‘s most industrially developed states by percentage of GDP ampere good as the richest curie member-state. [ 193 ] In 2015, 39.3 % of Belarusians were employed by collectivist companies, 57.2 % were employed by secret companies ( in which the government has a 21.1 % stake ) and 3.5 % were employed by extraneous companies. [ 194 ] The state relies on Russia for respective imports, including petroleum. [ 195 ] [ 196 ] Important agrarian products include potatoes and cattle byproducts, including meat. [ 197 ] In 1994, Belarus ‘s independent exports included heavy machinery ( particularly tractors ), agrarian products, and energy products. [ 198 ] Economically, Belarus involved itself in the CIS, eurasian Economic Community, and Union with Russia. [ 199 ] In the 1990s, however, industrial production plunged due to decreases in imports, investment, and requirement for belarusian products from its trading partners. [ 200 ] GDP only began to rise in 1996 ; [ 201 ] the country was the fastest-recovering former Soviet democracy in the terms of its economy. [ 202 ] In 2006, GDP amounted to US $ 83.1 billion in purchasing power parity bit ( PPP ) dollars ( calculate ), or about $ 8,100 per caput. [ 197 ] In 2005, GDP increased by 9.9 % ; the inflation rate averaged 9.5 %. [ 197 ] Since the decay of the Soviet Union, under Lukashenko ‘s leadership, Belarus has maintained politics control over key industries and eschewed the large-scale privatizations seen in other former soviet republics. [ 203 ]
due to its failure to protect department of labor rights, including passing laws forbidding unemployment or working outside of collectivist sectors, [ 204 ] Belarus lost its EU Generalized System of Preferences status on 21 June 2007, which raised duty rates to their anterior most favor nation levels. [ 205 ] Belarus applied to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 1993. [ 206 ] The labor movement force consists of more than four million people, among whom women hold slenderly more jobs than men. [ 194 ] In 2005, closely a quarter of the population was employed by industrial factories. employment is besides high in farming, manufacturing sales, trading goods, and education. The unemployment rate, according to government statistics, was 1.5 % in 2005. There were 679,000 unemployed Belarusians, two-thirds of whom were women. The unemployment rate has been in decline since 2003, and the overall rate of employment is the highest since statistics were first compiled in 1995. [ 194 ] The currentness of Belarus is the belarusian ruble. The currentness was introduced in May 1992 to replace the Soviet ruble and it has undergo redenomination doubly since then. The inaugural coins of the Republic of Belarus were issued on 27 December 1996. [ 207 ] The ruble was reintroduced with new values in 2000 and has been in habit always since. [ 208 ] As contribution of the Union of Russia and Belarus, both states have discussed using a unmarried currency along the same lines as the Euro. This led to a marriage proposal that the Belarusian ruble be discontinued in favor of the Russian ruble ( RUB ), starting a early as 1 January 2008. The National Bank of Belarus abandoned pegging the Belarusian ruble to the Russian ruble in August 2007. [ 209 ] On 23 May 2011, the Belarusian ruble depreciated 56 % against the United States dollar. The depreciation was evening steeper on the black grocery store and fiscal crash seemed at hand as citizens rushed to exchange their rubles for dollars, euros, durable goods, and canned goods. [ 210 ] On 1 June 2011, Belarus requested an economic rescue package from the International Monetary Fund. [ 211 ] [ 212 ] A raw currency, the modern Belarusian ruble ( ISO 4217 code : BYN ) [ 213 ] was introduced in July 2016, replacing the Belarusian ruble in a rate of 1:10,000 ( 10,000 old rubles = 1 new ruble ). From 1 July until 31 December 2016, the previous and new currencies were in latitude circulation and series 2000 notes and coins can be exchanged for series 2009 from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2021. [ 213 ] This redenomination can be considered an campaign to fight the high inflation pace. [ 214 ] [ 215 ] The deposit system of Belarus consists of two levels : Central Bank ( National Bank of the Republic of Belarus ) and 25 commercial banks. [ 216 ]

Demographics

According to the 2019 census the population was 9.41 million [ 217 ] with cultural Belarusians constituting 84.9 % of Belarus ‘s sum population. [ 217 ] Minority groups include : Russians ( 7.5 % ), Poles ( 3.1 % ), and Ukrainians ( 1.7 % ). [ 217 ] Belarus has a population density of about 50 people per square kilometer ( 127 per sq mi ) ; 70 % of its total population is concentrated in urban areas. [ 218 ] Minsk, the nation ‘s das kapital and largest city, was home to 1,937,900 residents in 2015. [ 219 ] Gomel, with a population of 481,000, is the second-largest city and serves as the capital of the Homiel Voblast. other big cities are Mogilev ( 365,100 ), Vitebsk ( 342,400 ), Hrodna ( 314,800 ) and Brest ( 298,300 ). [ 220 ] Like many other eastern european countries, Belarus has a negative population increase rate and a veto natural increase rate. In 2007, Belarus ‘s population declined by 0.41 % and its birthrate rate was 1.22, [ 221 ] well below the substitute pace. Its net migration rate is +0.38 per 1,000, indicating that Belarus experiences slenderly more immigration than emigration. As of 2015, 69.9 % of Belarus ‘s population is aged 14 to 64 ; 15.5 % is under 14, and 14.6 % is 65 or older. Its population is besides aging ; the medial senesce of 30–34 is estimated to rise to between 60 and 64 in 2050. [ 222 ] There are about 0.87 males per female in Belarus. [ 221 ] The average life anticipation is 72.15 ( 66.53 years for men and 78.1 years for women ). [ 221 ] Over 99 % of Belarusians aged 15 and older are literate. [ 221 ]

religion and languages

According to the census of November 2011, 58.9 % of all Belarusians adhered to some kind of religion ; out of those, Eastern Orthodoxy ( belarusian Exarchate of the russian Orthodox Church ) made up about 82 %. [ 2 ] Roman Catholicism is practiced by and large in the western regions, and there are besides different denominations of Protestantism. [ 223 ] [ 224 ] Minorities besides practice greek Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and Neopaganism. Overall, 48.3 % of the population is Orthodox Christian, 41.1 % is not religious, 7.1 % is Catholic and 3.3 % follows early religions. [ 2 ] Belarus ‘s Catholic minority is concentrated in the western part of the nation, particularly around Hrodna, is made up of a concoction of Belarusians and the country ‘s polish and lithuanian minorities. [ 225 ] President Lukashenko has stated that Orthodox and Catholic believers are the “ two main confessions in our state ”. [ 226 ] Belarus was once a major plaza of european Jews, with 10 % of the population being jewish. But since the mid-20th hundred, the number of Jews has been reduced by the Holocaust, deportation, and emigration, so that today it is a very little minority of less than one percentage. [ 227 ] The Lipka Tatars, numbering over 15,000, are predominantly Muslims. According to Article 16 of the Constitution, Belarus has no official religion. While the freedom of worship is granted in the same article, religious organizations deemed harmful to the government or social holy order can be prohibited. [ 187 ] Belarus ‘s two official languages are russian and belarusian ; [ 228 ] Russian is the most coarse linguistic process used at home, used by 70 % of the population, while belarusian, the official first terminology, is spoken at home by 23 %. [ 229 ] Minorities besides speak polish, ukrainian and eastern Yiddish. [ 230 ] Belarusian, although not as widely used as russian, is the mother tongue of 53.2 % of the population, whereas Russian is the mother spit of only 41.5 %. [ 229 ]

acculturation

Arts and literature

The belarusian politics sponsors annual cultural festivals such as the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, [ 231 ] which showcases belarusian performers, artists, writers, musicians, and actors. several submit holidays, such as Independence Day and Victory Day, drawing card big herd and much include displays such as fireworks and military parades, particularly in Vitebsk and Minsk. [ 232 ] The government ‘s Ministry of Culture finances events promoting belarusian arts and culture both inside and outside the area. belarusian literature [ 233 ] began with 11th- to 13th-century religious bible, such as the 12th-century poetry of Cyril of Turaw. [ 234 ] By the sixteenth century, Polotsk resident Francysk Skaryna translated the Bible into Belarusian. It was published in Prague and Vilnius sometime between 1517 and 1525, making it the first ledger printed in Belarus or anywhere in Eastern Europe. [ 235 ] The modern era of belarusian literature began in the late nineteenth hundred ; one big writer was Yanka Kupala. many belarusian writers of the meter, such as Uładzimir Žyłka, Kazimir Svayak, Yakub Kolas, Źmitrok Biadula, and Maksim Haretski, wrote for Nasha Niva, a Belarusian-language paper published that was previously published in Vilnius but immediately is published in Minsk. [ 236 ] After Belarus was incorporated into the Soviet Union, the soviet government took control of the Republic ‘s cultural affairs. At first base, a policy of “ Belarusianization ” was followed in the newly formed belarusian SSR. This policy was reversed in the 1930s, and the majority of outstanding belarusian intellectuals and nationalist advocates were either exiled or killed in Stalinist purges. [ 237 ] The detached growth of literature occurred only in Polish-held territory until soviet occupation in 1939. several poets and authors went into exile after the Nazi occupation of Belarus and would not return until the 1960s. [ 235 ]
The final major revival of belarusian literature occurred in the 1960s with novels published by Vasil Bykaŭ and Uladzimir Karatkievich. An influential generator who devoted his work to awakening the awareness of the catastrophes the country has suffered, was Ales Adamovich. He was named by Svetlana Alexievich, the Belarusian achiever of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2015, as “ her main teacher, who helped her to find a path of her own ”. [ 238 ] Music in Belarus largely comprises a rich tradition of folk music and religious music. The country ‘s family music traditions can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the nineteenth hundred, Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko composed operas and chamber music pieces while life in Minsk. During his bide, he worked with Belarusian poet Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich and created the opera Sialanka ( Peasant Woman ). At the end of the nineteenth century, major belarusian cities formed their own opera and ballet companies. The ballet Nightingale by M. Kroshner was composed during the Soviet earned run average and became the first base belarusian ballet showcased at the National Academic Vialiki Ballet Theatre in Minsk. [ 239 ] [ better source needed ] After the irregular World War, music focused on the hardships of the belarusian people or on those who took up arms in defense of the fatherland. During this period, Anatoly Bogatyrev, creator of the opera In Polesye Virgin Forest, served as the “ coach ” of belarusian composers. [ 240 ] The National Academic Theatre of Ballet in Minsk was awarded the Benois de la Dance Prize in 1996 as the top ballet company in the world. [ 240 ] Rock music has become increasingly popular in late years, though the belarusian government has attempted to limit the amount of foreign music aired on the radio receiver in privilege of traditional belarusian music. Since 2004, Belarus has been sending artists to the Eurovision Song Contest. [ 241 ] [ 242 ] Marc Chagall was born in Liozna ( near Vitebsk ) in 1887. He spent the World War I years in soviet Belarus, becoming one of the state ‘s most signalize artists and a member of the modernist avant-garde and was a founder of the Vitebsk Arts College. [ 243 ] [ 244 ]

dress

The traditional Belarusian dress originates from the Kievan Rus ‘ menstruation. ascribable to the aplomb climate, clothes were designed to conserve body heating system and were normally made from flax or wool. They were decorated with flowery patterns influenced by the adjacent cultures : Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Russians, and early european nations. Each region of Belarus has developed specific plan patterns. [ 245 ] One cosmetic practice common in early dresses presently decorates the hoist of the Belarusian national flag, adopted in a quarrel referendum in 1995. [ 246 ]

cuisine

belarusian cuisine consists chiefly of vegetables, kernel ( particularly pork barrel ), and bread. Foods are normally either slowly cooked or stewed. typically, Belarusians eat a ignite breakfast and two hearty meals later in the day. Wheat and rye boodle are consumed in Belarus, but rye is more ample because conditions are besides harsh for growing wheat. To show cordial reception, a server traditionally presents an offer of bread and salt when greeting a node or visitor. [ 247 ]

sport

Belarus has competed in the Olympic Games since the 1994 Winter Olympics as an freelancer nation. Receiving heavy sponsorship from the government, ice rink field hockey is the nation ‘s second most popular sport after football. The national football team has never qualified for a major tournament ; however, BATE Borisov has played in the Champions League. The national field hockey team finished one-fourth at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics following a memorable upset winnings over Sweden in the quarterfinals and regularly competes in the World Championships, often making the quarterfinals. numerous belarusian players are present in the Kontinental Hockey League in Eurasia, particularly for Belarusian golf club HC Dinamo Minsk, and respective have besides played in the National Hockey League in North America. The 2014 IIHF World Championship was hosted in Belarus and the 2021 IIHF World Championship was supposed to be co-hosted in Latvia and Belarus but it was cancelled due to widespread protests and security system concerns. The 2021 UEC European Track Championships in cycling was besides cancelled because Belarus was not considered a safe master of ceremonies .
Darya Domracheva is a leading biathlete whose honours include three aureate medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. [ 248 ] Tennis actor Victoria Azarenka became the beginning belarusian to win a Grand Slam singles title at the australian Open in 2012. [ 249 ] She besides won the gold decoration in interracial doubles at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Max Mirnyi, who holds ten Grand Slam titles in doubles. other noteworthy belarusian sportspeople include cyclist Vasil Kiryienka, who won the 2015 Road World Time Trial Championship, and middle-distance runner Maryna Arzamasava, who won the gold decoration in the 800m at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. Andrei Arlovski, who was born in Babruysk, Byelorussian SSR, is a stream UFC combatant and the former UFC heavyweight ace of the populace. Belarus is besides known for its firm rhythmical gymnasts. detectable gymnasts include Inna Zhukova, who earned flatware at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liubov Charkashyna, who earned tan at the 2012 London Olympics and Melitina Staniouta, Bronze All-Around Medalist of the 2015 World Championships. The byelorussian elder group earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics .

Telecommunications

The submit telecommunication monopoly, Beltelecom, holds the exclusive interconnection with Internet providers outside of Belarus. Beltelecom owns all the backbone channels that linked to the Lattelecom, TEO LT, Tata Communications ( early Teleglobe ), Synterra, Rostelecom, Transtelekom and MTS ISPs. Beltelecom is the only hustler licensed to provide commercial VoIP services in Belarus. [ 250 ]

World Heritage Sites

Belarus has four UNESCO -designated World Heritage Sites : the Mir Castle Complex, the Nesvizh Castle, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha ( shared with Poland ), and the Struve Geodetic Arc ( shared with nine other countries ). [ 251 ]

Belarus – Wikipedia