Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is in the midst of a three-day visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping . [128] Belarus has an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700mm (21.7 to 27.6in). Centered on the historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilna (Lithuanian: Vilnius, Polish: Wilno), for 18 months the entity served as a buffer state between Poland, upon which it depended, and Lithuania, which claimed the area. 275-316) Lszl Nndor Magyari [81] The Jewish population of Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. Treaties in 1995 and 1996 demarcated Belarus's borders with Latvia and Lithuania, and Belarus ratified a 1997 treaty establishing the Belarus-Ukraine border in 2009. Smokescreen: India's fragile batting from Delhi, Nagpur gapingly exposed in Indore Batting of Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar covered the fragile nature of India's top-order batting in the first two Tests of the India-Australia series. With the support of the Communist Party, the country's name was changed to the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991. [citation needed] The borders of the Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn, in accord with the 1919-proposed Curzon Line. [193] At least three detainees suffered injuries indicative of sexual violence in Okrestino prison in Minsk or on the way there. [179] In 2005, about 1.4% of Belarus's gross domestic product was devoted to military expenditure. [197] In July 2021, Belarusian authorities launched a hybrid warfare by human trafficking of migrants to the European Union. ( ).-, 1940. It shares Europe's oldest forest - Bialowieza - with Poland. Tensions between NATO and Belarus peaked after the March 2006 presidential election in Belarus. This led to a proposal that the Belarusian ruble be discontinued in favor of the Russian ruble (RUB), starting as early as 1 January 2008. The 2007 RussiaBelarus energy dispute centered on accusations by Gazprom that Belarus was siphoning oil off of the Druzhba pipeline that runs through Belarus. so the map above is more of a modern representation of the countries that formerly made up East Europe. Sudovia, in its turn, is one of the names of the Yotvingians. [41] The region was first permanently settled by Baltic tribes in the 3rd century. [157], In the 2020 presidential election, Lukashenko won again with official results giving him 80% of the vote, leading to mass protests. "[82], Soviet Belarusian communist politician Andrei Gromyko, who served as Soviet foreign minister (19571985) and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (19851988), was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he was replaced by Eduard Shevardnadze. [155][156] Six months later amid an unprecedented economic crisis, activists utilized social networking to initiate a fresh round of protests characterized by wordless hand-clapping. The contested lands were divided between Poland and the Soviet Union after the war ended in 1921, and the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. For the past few years, the Hungarian government under authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn has overtly courted the American right, wooing the kinds of anti-democratic forces buoying former. " BYN -- - - ", " - ", "Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom Belarus", " ", "International Programs: International Data Base", "Religion and denominations in the Republic of Belarus", "Belarusian Religion statistics, definitions and sources", "Belarus, Roman Catholic Church may ink cooperation agreement", "Population classified by knowledge of the Belarusian and Russian languages by region and Minsk City", "The Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk amazes with its artistic atmosphere, popular artistes, hundreds of events and thousands of reasons to enjoy", "Belarus entry to the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest", " : , ", Cultures Profile Project Eating the Belarusian Way, "Queen Victoria takes the throne determined to court further success", Bibliography of the history of Belarus and Byelorussia, "The European Union and Belarus: Democracy Promotion by Technocratic Means? [223] A famed Black Panther who's also a communist has faced calls to pay reparations after discovering her ancestors were white puritans who arrived in the US on the Mayflower. After Stalin's death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev continued his predecessor's cultural hegemony program, stating, "The sooner we all start speaking Russian, the faster we shall build communism. [236][237] A new currency, the new Belarusian ruble (ISO 4217 code: BYN)[238] was introduced in July 2016, replacing the Belarusian ruble in a rate of 1:10,000 (10,000 old ruble = 1 new ruble). But since the mid-20th century, the number of Jews has been reduced by the Holocaust, deportation, and emigration, so that today it is a very small minority of less than one percent. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that his country will develop more intensively under a strong China, the BelTA news agency reported. A well-known journalist in Belarus and a long-time correspondent for Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, 49-year-old Poczobut was also an activist for the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB), a Polish minority organisation that has been delegalised by the Belarusian authorities. It has been run by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994. Overall, 48.3% of the population is Orthodox Christian, 41.1% is not religious, 7.1% is Roman Catholic and 3.3% follows other religions. List of Every Communist Country in the World as of 2021: China. The choice of name was probably based on the fact that core members of the newly formed government were educated in tsarist universities, with corresponding emphasis on the ideology of West-Russianism. It is bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. [61], During the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Belarus first declared independence under German occupation on 25 March 1918, forming the Belarusian People's Republic. The United States supports a sovereign, independent Belarus which respects the rights and voices of the Belarusian people. USD. [261], The last major revival of Belarusian literature occurred in the 1960s with novels published by Vasil Byka and Uladzimir Karatkievich. [178] Demographic decreases in the Belarusians of conscription age have increased the importance of contract soldiers, who numbered 12,000 in 2001. [112][113][114][115] The European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States have all imposed sanctions against Belarus because of the rigged election and political oppression during the ongoing protests in the country. [262], After Belarus was incorporated into the Soviet Union, the Soviet government took control of the Republic's cultural affairs. ", "No Job? Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective and add more content related to non-recent events. Now the country's pro-democracy leaders are. Anyone who remembers Ukraine in 1989. "I thought he saved us from the 'wild capitalism' of the 1990s, and I voted for him twice," said Vladislav,. Two suspects, who were arrested within two days, confessed to being the perpetrators and were executed by shooting in 2012. [272], Belarusian cuisine consists mainly of vegetables, meat (particularly pork), and bread. The national hockey team finished fourth at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics following a memorable upset win over Sweden in the quarterfinals and regularly competes in the World Championships, often making the quarterfinals. 275-316) The Romanian Patronal System of Public Corruption (pp. The runner-up opposition leader Andrei Sannikov received less than 3% of the vote; independent observers criticized the election as fraudulent. Belarus offers a distinct case of post-communist development, remaining Eastern Europe's most authoritarian state to this day. [209] At the primary level are 14 cities of raion subordination councils, 8 urban-type settlements councils, and 1,151 village councils. [51] This union set in motion the developments that eventually resulted in the formation of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, created in 1569 by the Union of Lublin. [212] In October 1995, a presidential decree abolished the local governments of cities of raion subordination and urban-type settlements which served as the administrative center of raions, demoting them from administrative-territorial units to territorial units. The self-naming of Goths was Gutans and Gytos, which are close to Gudija. [73][74] In 1935, after the death of Pisudski, a new wave of repressions was released upon the minorities, with many Orthodox churches and Belarusian schools being closed. From 1 July until 31 December 2016, the old and new currencies were in parallel circulation and series 2000 notes and coins can be exchanged for series 2009 from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2021. A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in which the functions of prime minister were given to the President of Belarus. The national football team has never qualified for a major tournament; however, BATE Borisov has played in the Champions League. Many early Rus' principalities were virtually razed or severely affected by a major Mongol invasion in the 13th century, but the lands of modern-day Belarus avoided the brunt of the invasion and eventually joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [60], In a Russification drive in the 1840s, Nicholas I prohibited use 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. The republic was created in 1920 following the staged rebellion of soldiers of the 1st LithuanianBelarusian Division of the Polish Army under Lucjan eligowski. To strengthen their independence within the format of the union, three editions of the Statutes of Lithuania were issued in the second half of the 16th century. [219], The currency of Belarus is the Belarusian ruble. Belarusian language was banned in schools while in neighboring Samogitia primary school education with Samogitian literacy was allowed. Occupied by Nazi Germany, Belarus was retaken by Stalin's Russia in 1944 and remained under Soviet control until declaring its sovereignty on July 27, 1990 and independence from the Soviet Union on August 25, 1991. [245], Like many other Eastern European countries, Belarus has a negative population growth rate and a negative natural growth rate. [242] Minority groups include: Russians (7.5%), Poles (3.1%), and Ukrainians (1.7%). [241], According to the 2019 census the population was 9.41 million[242] with ethnic Belarusians constituting 84.9% of Belarus's total population. From manipulated elections, to a centrally planned economy, Geopolitically, Belarus. In January 1919 a part of Belarus under Bolshevik Russian control was declared the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia (SSRB) for just two months, but then merged with the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) to form the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia (SSR LiB), which lost control of its territories by August. [249][250] Minorities also practice Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and neo-paganism. [274] Tennis player Victoria Azarenka became the first Belarusian to win a Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in 2012. . .., 1939. On December 25, 1991, the United States recognized the independence of the Republic of Belarus, and on December 28, 1991, Belarus and the United States established diplomatic relations. [222] In 2005, GDP increased by 9.9%; the inflation rate averaged 9.5%. [37], In Lithuanian, besides Baltarusija (White Russia), Belarus is also called Gudija. The Belarusian Constitution forbids the use of special extrajudicial courts. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. [116][117] Further sanctions were imposed in 2022 following the country's role in the invasion of Ukraine. The German Generalplan Ost called for the extermination, expulsion, or enslavement of most or all Belarusians for the purpose of providing more living space in the East for Germans. President Aleksander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, has flatly denied the seriousness of the pandemic, refusing to impose a lockdown, close schools, or cancel mass events like the Belarusian football league or the Victory Day parade. Belarus has competed in the Olympic Games since the 1994 Winter Olympics as an independent nation. MINSK, March 1. Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with the capital Minsk. ), 2005. MOSCOW Not so long ago, the image of Belarus was of a peaceful, if tightly controlled, former Soviet republic, squeezed between Poland and Russia. Belarus Imposes Fines for Being Unemployed News", "The EU's Relationship With Belarus Trade", "Banknotes and Coins of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus", "Belarus abandons pegging its currency to Russian ruble", With economy in tatters, Belarus appeals to IMF for rescue loan of up to $8billion. [200] Following the granting of humanitarian visas to an Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya and her husband, Poland also accused Belarus for organizing a hybrid warfare as the number of migrants crossing the BelarusPoland border sharply increased multiple times when compared to the 2020 statistics. [75] A Belarusian organization, the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union, was banned in 1927, and opposition to Polish government was met with state repressions. [199] In August 2021, Belarusian officials, wearing uniforms, riot shields and helmets, were recorded on camera near the BelarusLithuania border pushing and urging the migrants to cross the European Union border. The ballet Nightingale by M. Kroshner was composed during the Soviet era and became the first Belarusian ballet showcased at the National Academic Vialiki Ballet Theatre in Minsk. [251] President Lukashenko has stated that Orthodox and Catholic believers are the "two main confessions in our country". Several poets and authors went into exile after the Nazi occupation of Belarus and would not return until the 1960s. [62][63] Immediately afterwards, the PolishSoviet War ignited, and the territory of Belarus was divided between Poland and Soviet Russia. MOSCOW Not so long ago, the image of Belarus was of a peaceful, if tightly controlled, former Soviet republic, squeezed between Poland and Russia. It was the last Soviet republic where the communist economic system worked and it was also the most militarized. Typically, Belarusians eat a light breakfast and two hearty meals later in the day. Washington and Beijing are competing . [123][124] The country lies within two ecoregions: Sarmatic mixed forests and Central European mixed forests. Along with neighbouring and mainly. [216], In 2019 the share of manufacturing in GDP was 31%, over two-thirds of this amount falls on manufacturing industries. Sino-Belarusian relations have improved,[169] strengthened by the visit of President Lukashenko to China in October 2005. Lukashenko won the election with 80% of the vote; the Russian Federation and the CIS deemed the vote open and fair[152] while the OSCE and other organizations called the election unfair. [122] Three major rivers run through the country: the Neman, the Pripyat, and the Dnieper. [205], Belarus's two official languages are Russian and Belarusian;[254] Russian is the most common language spoken at home, used by 70% of the population, while Belarusian, the official first language, is spoken at home by 23%. [151], In the 2006 presidential election, Lukashenko was opposed by Alaksandar Milinkievi, who represented a coalition of opposition parties, and by Alaksandar Kazulin of the Social Democrats. [73][74] Use of the Belarusian language was discouraged. [49], The Muscovites, led by Ivan III of Moscow, began military campaigns in 1486 in an attempt to incorporate the former lands of Kievan Rus', specifically the territories of modern-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. [62][69] In the 1920s and 1930s, Soviet agricultural and economic policies, including collectivization and five-year plans for the national economy, led to famine and political repression. Amnesty International,[101] and Human Rights Watch[102] have criticized Lukashenko's violations of human rights. Belarus is also known for its strong rhythmic gymnasts. [127] The climate features mild to cold winters, with January minimum temperatures ranging from 4C (24.8F) in southwest (Brest) to 8C (17.6F) in northeast (Vitebsk), and cool and moist summers with an average temperature of 18C (64.4F). [158], The Byelorussian 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. [84] In 1986, the Byelorussian SSR was contaminated with most (70%) of the nuclear fallout from the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant located 16km beyond the border in the neighboring Ukrainian SSR. It's just that, IMO, the data from the whole post-communist region show that the countries that adopted shock therapy fully actually ended On January 31, 1992, the U.S. Embassy . [14][15][16][78] The Soviet-controlled Byelorussian People's Council officially took control of the territories, whose populations consisted of a mixture of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews, on 28 October 1939 in Biaystok. [121] It is landlocked, relatively flat, and contains large tracts of marshy land. The title, "Socialism Is the Best Prophylaxis," comes from a statement made by Dr. Maxim Zetkin (1883-1965), the son of the communist and international women's rights activist Clara Zetkin . In my message of congratulations that reflected the position of me as the President of Belarus and my family, I honestly admitted that we were really worried about the outcomes of the congress of the Chinese Communist Party. [140] The members of this council need not be members of the legislature and are appointed by the president. The third Article of the Statutes established that all lands of the duchy will be eternally within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and never enter as a part of other states. The currency was introduced in May 1992 to replace the Soviet ruble and it has undergone redenomination twice since then. Each region of Belarus has developed specific design patterns. [50], 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. [82], After the war, Belarus was among the 51 founding member states of the United Nations Charter and as such it was allowed an additional vote at the UN, on top of the Soviet Union's vote. Cuba. At the end of the 19th century, major Belarusian cities formed their own opera and ballet companies. [106] Neighbouring countries Poland and Lithuania do not recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus and the Lithuanian government has allotted a residence for main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other members of the Belarusian opposition in Vilnius. [170] Belarus also has strong ties with Syria,[171] considered a key partner in the Middle East. A two-round election for the presidency on 24 June 1994 and 10 July 1994[36] catapulted the formerly unknown Alexander Lukashenko into national prominence. In addition, remains from the DnieperDonets culture were found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine. [153], After the December completion of the 2010 presidential election, Lukashenko was elected to a fourth straight term with nearly 80% of the vote in elections. [219] The country relies on Russia for various imports, including petroleum. [71][citation needed][72] After an early period of liberalization, tensions between increasingly nationalistic Polish government and various increasingly separatist ethnic minorities started to grow, and the Belarusian minority was no exception. As of 2015[update], 69.9% of Belarus's population is aged 14 to 64; 15.5% is under 14, and 14.6% is 65 or older. The Zarubintsy culture later became widespread at the beginning of the 1st millennium. [264], Music in Belarus largely comprises a rich tradition of folk and religious music. Xi, C hina's most powerful figure in decades, has no formal role in the National People's Congress, which will convene a meeting of its . The chairs of executive committees for raions and city of oblast subordinations are appointed by the regional executive committees at the level above; the chairs of executive committees for towns of raion subordination, settlements and villages are appointed by their councils, but upon the recommendation of the raion executive committees. During Soviet times, present day Belarus had a communist political system that was constitutionally defined as a Marxist-Leninist single party socialist republic guided in part by the political ideas of Karl Marx, one of the fathers of historical materialism, as well as by Friedrich Engels and Vladimir Lenin. At the basic level are 118 raions councils and 10 cities of oblast subordination councils, which are supervised by the governments of the oblasts. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. and install a government of loyalists to intensify Communist Party control over the economy and society. The experts also received reports of violence against women and children, including sexual abuse and rape with rubber batons. The Americans and British feared. The Belarusian team . While Russia is no longer communist, its president, Vladimir Putin, considers the fall of the Soviet Union the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" and is currently (as of. ", "Coordinates of the extreme points of the state frontier. [180], Belarus has not expressed a desire to join NATO but has participated in the Individual Partnership Program since 1997,[181] and Belarus provided refueling and airspace support for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. At the talks in Beijing Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko congratulated Xi Jinping on the great trust demonstrated by the Chinese people at the National Congress of the Chinese Communist . [166][167] Diplomatic relations remained tense, and in 2004, the United States passed the Belarus Democracy Act, which authorized funding for anti-government Belarusian NGOs, and prohibited loans to the Belarusian government, except for humanitarian purposes. info)). While the freedom of worship is granted in the same article, religious organizations deemed harmful to the government or social order can be prohibited. [277], This article is about the Republic of Belarus. . . . ", "Snapshot of the Belarus Country Profile", "UN human rights experts: Belarus must stop torturing protesters and prevent enforced disappearances", "Lukashenko blames Americans and drunks for Belarus protests", "EU imposes sanctions on Belarusian economy", "Belarus dictator threatens to 'flood EU with drugs and migrants', "Belarus dictator weaponizes illegal migrants against EU", "In Lithuania, Migrants Find Themselves Caught in a Geopolitical Battle", "Baltarusijos pareignai su skydais blokuoja migrant grinim: kadrai i pasienio", "Poland accuses Belarus of sending migrants over border as "living weapons" in "hybrid war", "Poland Says Belarus Is Letting Migrants Cross Border In 'Hybrid War' With EU", "Lukaenkos kerto akcija pasiek ir Latvij: i savait rykus nelegali migrant skaiiaus uolis", "US, EU, UK and Canada Announce New Belarus Sanctions", "SectionI: Principles of the Constitutional System. Jahrhundert. /TASS/. [231], The labor force consists of more than four million people, among whom women hold slightly more jobs than men. The other countries on the list are Eritrea, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Syria, and Belarus. The official version of events as publicised by the Belarusian government was questioned in the unprecedented wording of the UN Security Council statement condemning "the apparent terrorist attack" intimating the possibility that the Belarusian government itself was behind the bombing. [66], The Republic of Central Lithuania was a short-lived political entity, which was the last attempt to restore Lithuania in the historical confederacy state (it was also supposed to create Lithuania Upper and Lithuania Lower). [57], Under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures were repressed. [276], 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). According to some estimates, in countries such as present-day Ukraine, GDP is supposed to be only about 90 percent of what it had been before the transition. [129] The United Nations and other agencies have aimed to reduce the level of radiation in affected areas, especially through the use of caesium binders and rapeseed cultivation, which are meant to decrease soil levels of caesium-137. . Belarus is not in the European Union (EU). Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1908. [120] Norway and Japan have joined the sanctions regime which aims to isolate Belarus from the international supply chain. [238] This redenomination can be considered an effort to fight the high inflation rate. Yet another hypothesis is based on the idea 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. Darya Domracheva is a leading biathlete whose honours include three gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Dallas, TX: SIL International. [148][149] Re-admission of the country into the council is dependent on the completion of benchmarks set by the council, including the improvement of human rights, rule of law, and democracy. Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belarus&oldid=1141790380. We were very nervous . Belarus appeared to be the Prussia of the Soviet Union. About us. [35][36] In Russia, the usage of Belorussia is still very common. -0.31 -0.32%. For criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court. Anyone from outside the duchy gaining rights to a property would actually own it only after swearing allegiance to the Grand Duke of Lithuania (a title dually held by the King of Poland). [162] Belarus has trade agreements with several European Union member states (despite other member states' travel ban on Lukashenko and top officials),[163] including neighboring Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
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