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The Belarusian team . When opposition protesters took to the streets in Minsk, many people, including some presidential candidates, were beaten and arrested by the riot police. Belarus appeared to be the Prussia of the Soviet Union. [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. Other notable 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 medal in the 800m at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics. The country's folk music traditions can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [107][108][109][110][111] Neither is Lukashenko recognized as the legitimate president of Belarus by the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom nor the United States. [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. [222], Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, under Lukashenko's leadership, Belarus has maintained government control over key industries and eschewed the large-scale privatizations seen in other former Soviet republics. We even give money to Communist Cuba a country our own government has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism," Haley said. "People in these countries are virtually isolated from the rest of the world by authoritarian rulers who muzzle the media and keep a chokehold on information through restrictive laws, fear, and intimidation," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. The defense of Brest Fortress was the first major battle of Operation Barbarossa. [217] The growth rate is much lower than for the economy as a wholeabout 2.2% in 2021. Darya Domracheva is a leading biathlete whose honours include three gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. [42] Invaders from Asia, among whom were the Huns and Avars, swept through c. 400600 AD, but were unable to dislodge the Slavic presence.[43]. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective and add more content related to non-recent events. 2 min read. [219] The country relies on Russia for various imports, including petroleum. Another hypothesis connects the word with the Gothic Kingdom that occupied parts of the territory of modern Belarus and Ukraine in the 4th and 5th centuries. The Belorussian senior group earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in which the functions of prime minister were given to the President of Belarus. The 2007 RussiaBelarus energy dispute centered on accusations by Gazprom that Belarus was siphoning oil off of the Druzhba pipeline that runs through Belarus. Albania country profile 16 January Albania is a small, mountainous country in the Balkan peninsula, with a long Adriatic and Ionian coastline. (Eng. "I thought he saved us from the 'wild capitalism' of the 1990s, and I voted for him twice," said Vladislav,. . [184], Belarus's Democracy Index rating is the lowest in Europe, the country is labelled as "not free" by Freedom House,[185] as "repressed" in the Index of Economic Freedom, and in the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, Belarus is ranked 153th out of 180 countries for 2022. To show hospitality, a host traditionally presents an offering of bread and salt when greeting a guest or visitor.[273]. It's just that, IMO, the data from the whole post-communist region show that the countries that adopted shock therapy fully actually ended The judges of national courts are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Council of the Republic. [209] In either case, the councils have the power to approve or reject a nonimee for executive committee chair. [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. Foods are usually either slowly cooked or stewed. Cuba. It was time yesterday. [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. The first coins of the Republic of Belarus were issued on 27 December 1996. [261] The modern era of Belarusian literature began in the late 19th century; one prominent writer was Yanka Kupala. Pay Up. [243] Minsk, the nation's capital and largest city, was home to 1,937,900 residents in 2015[update]. Incorporation into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resulted in an economic, political and ethno-cultural unification of Belarusian lands. Dallas, TX: SIL International. [143], Belarus has often been described as "Europe's last dictatorship" by some media outlets, politicians and authors due to its authoritarian government. [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. [266] 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. 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. In addition, remains from the DnieperDonets culture were found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine. While the world has just five truly communist countries, socialist countries (countries whose constitutions include statements about the protection and rule of the working class) are relatively common Examples include Portugal, Sri Lanka, India, Guinea-Bissau, and Tanzania. 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. The present borders of Belarus were established during the turmoil of the World War Two. It is one of the most equal countries in the world,[215] with one of the lowest Gini-coefficient measures of national resource distribution, and its ranks 82nd in GDP per capita .Belarus has trade relations with over 180 countries. [122], Natural resources include peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomite (limestone), marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay. [267][268], Marc Chagall was born in Liozna (near Vitebsk) in 1887. Under the 1994 constitution, the president could serve for only two terms as president, but a change in the constitution in 2004 eliminated term limits. Employment is also high in agriculture, manufacturing sales, trading goods, and education. 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. [140] The members of this council need not be members of the legislature and are appointed by the president. [214], Belarus is a developing country. [260], By the 16th century, Polotsk resident Francysk Skaryna translated the Bible into Belarusian. [204], Belarus is divided into six regions called oblasts (Belarusian: ; Russian: ), which are named after the cities that serve as their administrative centers: Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Minsk, and Vitebsk. [122] Three major rivers run through the country: the Neman, the Pripyat, and the Dnieper. [126], The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (Dzyarzhynsk Hill) at 345 metres (1,132ft), and the lowest point is on the Neman River at 90m (295ft). 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. 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. [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). Belarus "fully agrees with and supports China's position and proposals on a political solution to the Ukraine crisis, which is of great significance to resolving the crisis," CCTV quoted . [116][117] Further sanctions were imposed in 2022 following the country's role in the invasion of Ukraine. 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. 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. Around the 5th century, the area was taken over by the Slavs. [81] The Jewish population of Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. In all three countries, the share of the population that identifies with Orthodox Christianity is up significantly since the collapse of the Soviet Union. [187][188] Similar regulations were introduced for the forestry industry in 2012. [277], This article is about the Republic of Belarus. The Soviet Union by 1948 had installed communist-leaning governments in Eastern European countries that the USSR had liberated from Nazi control during the war. Economically, Belarus involved itself in the CIS, Eurasian Economic Community, and Union with Russia. Beltelecom owns all the backbone channels that linked to the Lattelecom, TEO LT, Tata Communications (former Teleglobe), Synterra, Rostelecom, Transtelekom and MTS ISPs. [256] Belarusian, although not as widely used as Russian, is the mother tongue of 53.2% of the population, whereas Russian is the mother tongue of only 41.5%.[255]. [247] There are about 0.87 males per female in Belarus. info)). ", "One Week After Election, Belarus Sees Giant Protests Against 'Europe's Last Dictator', "Belarus: inside Europe's last dictatorship", "Belarus's Lukashenko: 'Better a dictator than gay', "Belarus suspended from the Council of Europe", "Belarus Office of the Directorate General of Programmes", "OSCE Report on the October 2004 parliamentary elections", "Belarus in the aftermath of the Presidential election of 19 March 2006", "Police guard threatened to rape Belarus Free Theatre director after election protest", Belarus opposition leader Andrei Sannikov jailed, "Belarus: 7 presidential candidates face 15 years", "Why Belarus' Dictator Is Not Fond of Applause", "Belarus: EU imposes sanctions as Lukashenko orders police to clear the streets", "UNITED NATIONS MEMBER STATES | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases", "Russia-Belarus relations: The future of the union state", "CIS: Foreign Ministers, Heads Of State Gather In Minsk For Summit", "The U.S. Was Set to Send an Ambassador to Belarus. The Statutes were initially issued in the Ruthenian language alone and later also in Polish. The biggest of these was the Soviet Union (The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) which was made up of countries such as Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Ukraine, Georgia and a number of other countries. [160][161] Belarus was a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). [172] In addition to the CIS, Belarus is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (previously the Eurasian Economic Community), the Collective Security Treaty Organisation,[164] the international Non-Aligned Movement since 1998,[173] and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). [132] Belarus and Lithuania ratified final border demarcation documents in February 2007.[133]. Then Came the Crackdown", "Modest Advances in US-Belarus Relations", "Belarus Democracy Act Will Help Cause of Freedom, Bush Says", "China's Xi promises Belarus $1 billion in loans", "China, Belarus agree to upgrade economic ties", "Syria and Belarus agree to promote trade", "Belarus-Syria report substantial progress in trade and economic relations", "Membership of the Republic of Belarus in International Organizations", "Growth in United Nations membership, 1945present", "Military Development and the Armed Forces of Belarus", "NATO Council adopted individual partnership program with Belarus", "Nato and Belarus: partnership, past tensions and future possibilities", "Lukashenka promises "serfdom" in villages", "Paszczyzna u ukaszenki. ( ).-, 1940. MOFA condemned the Chinese Communist Party's "continuous spread of false statements" and its practice of forcing other countries to agree with its claims. The. It existed from only 1918 to 1919 but created prerequisites for the formation of a Belarusian state. [249][250] Minorities also practice Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and neo-paganism. [136] The National Assembly is a bicameral parliament comprising the 110-member House of Representatives (the lower house) and the 64-member Council of the Republic (the upper house). The law was compared with serfdom by Lukashenko himself. After the war, it was estimated that 2.2 million local inhabitants had died and of those some 810,000 were combatantssome foreign. [142], Lukashenko has been frequently described as the "last dictator" in Europe in media. NATO used to be much smaller, and it is only since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the break up of the Warsaw pact, the communist equivalent to NATO, that the organisation swelled its. [205] Each raion has its own legislative authority, or raion council, (Belarusian: ; Russian: ) elected by its residents, and an executive authority or raion administration appointed by oblast executive powers. [206] The Regions are further subdivided into 118 raions, commonly translated as districts (Belarusian: ; Russian: ). [230] Belarus applied to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 1993. [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 Belarusian Constitution forbids the use of special extrajudicial courts. 96.19. [263] The free development of literature occurred only in Polish-held territory until Soviet occupation in 1939. They were decorated with ornate patterns influenced by the neighboring cultures: Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Russians, and other European nations. [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. Two suspects, who were arrested within two days, confessed to being the perpetrators and were executed by shooting in 2012. Washington and Beijing are competing . The present borders of Belarus were established during the turmoil of the World War Two. [248] Roman Catholicism is practiced mostly in the western regions, and there are also different denominations of Protestantism. Formerly Communist countries (by current name): Formerly part of the Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Despite significant efforts, the state ceased to exist, primarily because the territory was continually dominated by the German Imperial Army and the Imperial Russian Army in World War I, and then the Bolshevik Red Army. [154] Many of the candidates, including Sannikov, were sentenced to prison or house arrest for terms which are mainly and typically over four years. 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. According to Article 16 of the Constitution, Belarus has no official religion. [222] In 2005, GDP increased by 9.9%; the inflation rate averaged 9.5%. The country, which is home to the capital city Minsk, is around 40% forest. As an OSCE member state, Belarus's international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission. 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. [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. [205] Each region has a provincial legislative authority, called a region council (Belarusian: ; Russian: ), which is elected by its residents, and a provincial executive authority called a region administration (Belarusian: ; Russian: ), whose chairman is appointed by the president. It was published in Prague and Vilnius sometime between 1517 and 1525, making it the first book printed in Belarus or anywhere in Eastern Europe. ", "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. [37], In Lithuanian, besides Baltarusija (White Russia), Belarus is also called Gudija. Anyone who remembers Ukraine in 1989. [139], In the 2012 parliamentary election, 105 of the 110 members elected to the House of Representatives were not affiliated with any political party. [201][202] Illegal migrants numbers also exceeded the previous annual numbers in Latvia. 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). [183] However, Belarus cannot join NATO because it is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. [57], Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the Byelorussian SSR from Western influences. In 2007, Belarus's population declined by 0.41% and its fertility rate was 1.22,[246] well below the replacement rate. "[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. The national awakening in today's Belarus is especially striking because it is taking place in a country that had previously clung to the traditions, symbols, and narratives of the USSR with more enthusiasm than any other former Soviet republic.