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Coordinates: 53°N 27°E

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Republic of Belarus. For other
uses, see Belarus (disambiguation).

Republic of Belarus
Рэспубліка


Беларусь (Belarusian)
 Республика

Беларусь (Russian)
 Flag

Emblem
Anthem:
Дзяржаўны гімн Рэспублікі
Беларусь (Belarusian)
Dziaržaŭny Himn Respubliki Biełaruś
Государственный гимн Республики
Беларусь (Russian)
Gosudarstvennyy gimn Respubliki
Belarus
"State Anthem of the Republic of
Belarus"
Duration: 1 minute and 10 seconds.1:10

Show globe
Show map of Europe Show
all
Location of Belarus (green)
in Europe (dark grey) – [Legend]
Capital Minsk
and largest 53°55′N 27°33′E
city
Official lang Belarusian
uages Russiana
Recognized Polish
minority Ukrainian
languages Yiddish
Ethnic grou 84.9% Belarusians
ps 7.5% Russians
(2019)[1] 3.1% Poles
1.7% Ukrainians
2.8% other
Religion
(2020)[2] o 91.0% Christianity
 83.3
% Eastern Orthodoxy
 7.7%
other Christian
7.8% no religion
1.2% other
Demonym(s) Belarusian
Government Unitary semi-
 presidential
republic under a
dictatorship[3][4][5]
• President Alexander
Lukashenko[a]
• Prime Roman Golovchenko[8]
Minister
Legislature National Assembly
• Upper house Council of the
Republic
• Lower house House of
Representatives
Formation
• Kievan Rus' 882
• Belarusian 25 March 1918
Democratic
Republic
• Socialist 1 January 1919
Soviet
Republic of
Byelorussia
• Byelorussian 31 July 1920
Soviet
Socialist
Republic
• Declaration 27 July 1990
of State
Sovereignty
• Declaration 25 August 1991
of
independence
• Republic of 19 September 1991
 Belarus
• Current 15 March 1994
constitution
• Formation of 8 December 1999
the Union
State
Area
• Total 207,595 km2 (80,153 s
q mi) (84th)
• Water (%) 1.4% (2.830 km2 or
1.093 sq mi)b
Population
• 2024 estimate 9,155,978[9] (98th)
• Density 45.8/km2 (118.6/sq mi
)
GDP (PPP) 2023 estimate
• Total $221.186
billion[10] (73rd)
• Per capita $24,016[10] (71st)
GDP (nomin 2023 estimate
al)
• Total $68.864
billion[10] (74th)
• Per capita $7,477[10] (82nd)
Gini (2019) 25.3[11]
low inequality
HDI (2022) 0.801[12]
very high (69th)
Currency Belarusian
 ruble (BYN)
Time zone UTC+3 (MSK[13])
Date format dd.mm.yyyy
Drives on right
Calling code +375
ISO 3166 BY
code
Internet .by
TLD .бел[14]
a. ^ Constitution of the Republic of
Belarus of 1994 Section 1, Article
17

b. ^ "FAO's Information System on

Water and Agriculture". FAO.
Archived from the original on 26
January 2012. Retrieved 16
February 2013.

Belarus,[b] officially the Republic of Belarus,[c] 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. Belarus spans an area of 207,600 square
kilometres (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million,
The country has a hemiboreal climate and is
administratively divided into six regions. Minsk is the
capital and largest city; it is administered separately as a
city with special status.
Between the medieval period and the 20th century,
different states at various times controlled the lands of
modern-day Belarus, including Kievan Rus',
the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,
the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian
Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in
1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy
amid the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of
the Byelorussian SSR, which became a
founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in
1922. After the Polish-Soviet War, Belarus lost
almost half of its territory to Poland. Much of the borders
of Belarus took their modern shape 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. During World War II, military
operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a
quarter of its population and half of its economic
resources. In 1945, the Byelorussian SSR became a
founding member of the United Nations, along with the
Soviet Union. The republic was home to a widespread
and diverse anti-Nazi insurgent movement which
dominated politics until well into the 1970s, overseeing
Belarus' transformation from an agrarian to industrial
economy.
The parliament of the republic proclaimed
the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during
the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus gained
independence on 25 August 1991. Following the
adoption of a new constitution in 1994, Alexander
Lukashenko was elected Belarus's first president in the
country's first and only free election after independence,
serving as president ever since. Lukashenko heads a
highly centralized authoritarian government.
Belarus ranks low in international measurements
of freedom of the press and civil liberties. It has
continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state
ownership of large sections of the economy. Belarus is
the only European country that continues to use capital
punishment. In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty
for greater cooperation, forming the Union State.
The country has been a member of the United
Nations since its founding and has joined the CIS,
the CSTO, the EAEU, the OSCE, and the Non-Aligned
Movement. It has shown no aspirations of joining
the European Union but nevertheless maintains
a bilateral relationship with the bloc, and also participates
in the Baku Initiative.
Etymology
See also: Etymology of Belarus
The name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya
Rus', i.e., White Rus'.[15] There are several claims to the
origin of the name White Rus'.[16] An ethno-religious
theory suggests that the name used to describe the part
of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania that had been populated mostly by Slavs who
had been Christianized early, as opposed to Black
Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by
pagan Balts.[17] An alternative explanation for the name
comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic
population.[16] A third theory suggests that the old Rus'
lands that were not conquered by the Tatars (i.e.,
Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev) had been referred to
as White Rus'.[16] A fourth theory suggests that the color
white was associated with the west, and Belarus was the
western part of Rus' in the 9th to 13th centuries.[18]

Stamp with the Cross of St.

Euphrosyne by Lazar Bohsha from 1992
The name Rus' is often conflated with its Latin
forms Russia and Ruthenia, thus Belarus is often
referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia. The
name first appeared in German and Latin medieval
literature; the chronicles of Jan of Czarnków mention the
imprisonment of Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila and his
mother at "Albae Russiae, Poloczk dicto" in 1381.[19] The
first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in
the late-16th century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey,
who was known for his close contacts with the Russian
royal court.[20] During the 17th century, the
Russian tsars used the term to describe the lands added
from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[21]
The term Belorussia (Russian: Белору́ссия, the latter
part similar but spelled and stressed differently
from Росси́ я, Russia) first rose in the days of
the Russian Empire, and the Russian Tsar was usually
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.[22] This asserted that the
territories are all Russian and all the peoples are also
Russian; in the case of the Belarusians, they were
variants of the Russian people.[23]
After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term White
Russia caused some confusion, as it was also the name
of the military force that opposed the red Bolsheviks.
[24]
During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the
term Byelorussia was embraced as part of a national
consciousness. In western Belarus under Polish
control, Byelorussia became commonly used in the
regions of Białystok and Grodno during the interwar
period.[25]
The term Byelorussia (its names in other languages such
as English being based on the Russian form) was used
officially only until 1991. Officially, the full name of the
country is Republic of Belarus (Рэспубліка
Беларусь, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus).
 In Russia, the usage of Belorussia is still very
[26][27]

common.[28]
In Lithuanian, besides Baltarusija (White Russia),
Belarus is also called Gudija.[29][30] The etymology of the
word Gudija is not clear. By one hypothesis the word
derives from the Old Prussian name Gudwa, which, in
turn, is related to the form Żudwa, which is a distorted
version of Sudwa, Sudovia. Sudovia, in its turn, is one of
the names of the Yotvingians. 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 self-naming of
Goths was Gutans and Gytos, which are close to Gudija.
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.[31]
History
Main article: History of Belarus
Early history
Further information: Early Slavs
From 5000 to 2000 BC, the Bandkeramik predominated
in what now constitutes Belarus, and the Cimmerians as
well as other pastoralists roamed through the area by
1,000 BC. The Zarubintsy culture later became
widespread at the beginning of the 1st millennium. In
addition, remains from the Dnieper–Donets culture were
found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine.[32] The region was
first permanently settled by Baltic tribes in the 3rd
century. Around the 5th century, the area was taken over
by the Slavs. The takeover was partially due to the lack
of military coordination of the Balts, but their gradual
assimilation into Slavic culture was peaceful in nature.
[33]
Invaders from Asia, among whom were
the Huns and Avars, swept through c. 400–600 AD, but
were unable to dislodge the Slavic presence.[34]
Kievan Rus'
Further information: Kievan Rus'

Principalities in Eastern Europe before

the Mongol and Lithuanian invasions
In the 9th century, the territory of modern Belarus
became part of Kievan Rus', a vast East Slavic state
ruled by the Rurikids. Upon the death of its
ruler Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, the state split into
independent principalities.[35] The Battle on the Nemiga
River in 1067 was one of the more notable events of the
period, the date of which is considered the founding date
of Minsk.
Many early 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.[36] There are no sources of military seizure, but
the annals affirm the alliance and united foreign policy
of Polotsk and Lithuania for decades.[37] Trying to avoid
the "Tatar yoke", the Principality of Minsk sought
protection from Lithuanian princes further north and in
1242, the Principality of Minsk became a part of the
expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[citation needed]
Incorporation into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resulted
in an economic, political and ethno-cultural unification of
Belarusian lands.[38] Of the principalities held by the
duchy, nine of them were settled by a population that
would eventually become the Belarusians.[39] 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.
[40]

The Muscovites, led by Ivan III of Russia, began military

campaigns in 1486 in an attempt to incorporate the
former lands of Kievan Rus', including the territories of
modern-day Belarus and Ukraine.[41]
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Further information: Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
 A map of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania in the 15th century prior to its union with
the Kingdom of Poland. Belarus was fully within its
borders.
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.[42] This union set
in motion the developments that eventually resulted in
the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
created in 1569 by the Union of Lublin.[43][44]
The Lithuanian nobles were forced to seek
rapprochement with the Poles because of a potential
threat from Muscovy. 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. 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 Statutes allowed the right to
own land only to noble families of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania. 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). These articles were aimed
to defend the rights of the Lithuanian nobility within the
duchy against Polish and other nobles of the Polish–
Lithuanian Commonwealth.[citation needed]
In the years following the union, the process of
gradual Polonization of both Lithuanians and Ruthenians
gained steady momentum. In culture and social life, both
the Polish language and Catholicism became dominant,
and in 1696, Polish replaced Ruthenian as the official
language, with Ruthenian being banned from
administrative use.[45] However, the Ruthenian peasants
continued to speak their native language. Also,
the Belarusian Byzantine Catholic Church was formed by
the Poles in order to bring Orthodox Christians into
the See of Rome. The Belarusian church entered into a
full communion with the Latin Church through the Union
of Brest in 1595, while keeping its Byzantine liturgy in
the Church Slavonic language.
The Statutes were initially issued in the Ruthenian
language alone and later also in Polish. Around 1840 the
Statutes were banned by the Russian tsar following
the November Uprising. Ukrainian lands used them until
the 1860s.[citation needed]
Russian Empire
Main article: Belarusian history in the Russian Empire
Further information: Kościuszko Uprising, November
Uprising, and January Uprising
 Napoleon's Grande Armée retreating
after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina
river (near Barysaw, Belarus)
The union between Poland and Lithuania ended in 1795
with the Third Partition of Poland by Imperial
Russia, Prussia, and Austria.[46] The Belarusian territories
acquired by the Russian Empire under the reign
of Catherine II[47] 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.[48]
Under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures
were repressed. Policies of Polonization[49] changed
by Russification,[50] which included the return to Orthodox
Christianity of Belarusian Uniates. Belarusian language
was banned in schools while in
neighboring Samogitia primary school education
with Samogitian literacy was allowed.[51]
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. In 1863, economic and cultural pressure exploded
in a revolt, led by Konstanty Kalinowski (also known as
Kastus). After the failed revolt, the Russian government
reintroduced the use of Cyrillic to Belarusian in 1864 and
no documents in Belarusian were permitted by the
Russian government until 1905.[52]
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.[53][54] Immediately afterwards,
the Polish–Soviet War ignited, and the territory of
Belarus was divided between Poland and Soviet Russia.
[55]
The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
exists as a government in exile ever since then; in fact, it
is currently the world's longest serving government in
exile.[56]
Early states and interwar period

The first government ("activists") of

the Belarussian People's Republic (BNR, Беларуская
Народная Рэспубліка), 1918.
Sitting, left to right:
Aliaksandar Burbis, Jan Sierada, Jazep Varonka, Vasil
Zacharka.
Standing, left to right:
Arkadź Smolič, Pyotra Krecheuski, Kastuś
Jezavitaŭ, Anton Ausianik, Liavon Zayats.
The Belarusian People's Republic was the first attempt
to create an independent Belarusian state under the
name "Belarus". Despite significant efforts, the state
ceased to exist, primarily because the territory was
continually dominated by the Imperial German 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 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.[57]
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). The republic was created in 1920 following the
staged rebellion of soldiers of the 1st Lithuanian–
Belarusian Division of the Polish Army under Lucjan
Żeligowski. 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.[58] After a variety of
delays, a disputed election took place on 8 January
1922, and the territory was annexed to Poland.
Żeligowski later in his memoir which was published in
London in 1943 condemned the annexation of the
Republic by Poland, as well as the policy of closing
Belarusian schools and general disregard of
Marshal Józef Piłsudski's confederation plans by Polish
ally.[59]

Meeting 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 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.
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) was
created in July 1920.[60]
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.[53][61] 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.[62]
The western part of modern Belarus remained part of
the Second Polish Republic.[63][citation needed][64] 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.[65]
[66]
The polonization drive was inspired and influenced by
the Polish National Democracy, led by Roman Dmowski,
who advocated refusing Belarusians and Ukrainians the
right for a free national development.[67] A Belarusian
organization, the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers'
Union, was banned in 1927, and opposition to Polish
government was met with state repressions.[65]
[66]
Nonetheless, compared to the (larger) Ukrainian
minority, Belarusians were much less politically aware
and active, and thus suffered fewer repressions than the
Ukrainians.[65][66] In 1935, after the death of Piłsudski, a
new wave of repressions was released upon the
minorities, with many Orthodox churches and Belarusian
schools being closed.[65][66] Use of the Belarusian
language was discouraged.[68] Belarusian leadership was
sent to Bereza Kartuska prison.[69]
World War II
Main articles: Byelorussia in World War II and German
occupation of Byelorussia during World War II
German soldiers in Minsk, August 1941

Khatyn Memorial; during World War

II the German Nazis murdered civilians in 5,295 different
localities in occupied Soviet Belarus.
In September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded and
occupied eastern Poland, following the German invasion
of Poland two weeks earlier which marked the beginning
of World War II. The territories of Western
Belorussia were annexed and incorporated into the
Byelorussian SSR.[70][71][72][73] 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 Białystok. Nazi Germany invaded the
Soviet Union in 1941. The defense of Brest Fortress was
the first major battle of Operation Barbarossa.
The Byelorussian SSR was the hardest-hit Soviet
republic in World War II; it remained under German
occupation until 1944. 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.
[74]
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 client state, the Belarusian Central Council.[75]
During World War II, Belarus was home to a variety
of guerrilla movements, including Jewish, Polish, and
Soviet partisans. Belarusian partisan formations formed
a large part of the Soviet partisans,[76] and in the modern
day these partisans have formed a core part of the
Belarusian national identity, with Belarus continuing to
refer to itself as the "partisan republic" since the 1970s.[77]
[78]
Following the war, many former Soviet partisans
entered positions of government, among them Pyotr
Masherov and Kirill Mazurov, both of whom were First
Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia. Until
the late 1970s, the Belarusian government was almost
entirely composed of former partisans.[79] Numerous
pieces of media have been made about the Belarusian
partisans, including the 1985 film Come and See and the
works of authors Ales Adamovich and Vasil Bykaŭ.
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 republic'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 foreign. This figure
represented a staggering quarter of the prewar
population.[80] In the 1990s some raised the estimate
even higher, to 2.7 million.[81] The Jewish population of
Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never
recovered.[80][82][83] The population of Belarus did not regain
its pre-war level until 1971.[82] Belarus was also hit hard
economically, losing around half of its economic
resources.[80]
Post-war
Belarusian poster where the text reads "Long live the
Stalinist constitution of victorious socialism and true
democracy!" (issued in 1940)
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. Vigorous postwar
reconstruction promptly followed the end of the war and
the Byelorussian SSR became a major center of
manufacturing in the western USSR, creating jobs and
attracting ethnic Russians.[citation needed] The borders of the
Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn, in accord
with the 1919-proposed Curzon Line.[48]
Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to
isolate the Byelorussian SSR from Western influences.
[82]
This policy involved sending Russians from various
parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key
positions in the Byelorussian SSR government. 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."[82]
Between Stalin's death in 1953 and 1980, Belarusian
politics was dominated by former members of the Soviet
partisans, including First Secretaries Kirill Mazurov and
Pyotr Masherov.[79] Mazurov and Masherov oversaw
Belarus's rapid industrialisation and transformation from
one of the Soviet Union's poorest republics into one of its
richest.[84] In 1986, the Byelorussian SSR was
contaminated with most (70%) of the nuclear fallout from
the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant located
16 km beyond the border in the neighboring Ukrainian
SSR.[85][86]
By the late 1980s, political liberalization led to a national
revival, with the Belarusian Popular Front becoming a
major pro-independence force.[87][88]
Independence
Leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed
the Belavezha Accords, dissolving the Soviet Union, 8
December 1991.
In March 1990, elections for seats in the Supreme
Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR took place. Though the
opposition candidates, mostly associated with the pro-
independence Belarusian Popular Front, took only 10%
of the seats,[89] Belarus declared itself sovereign on 27
July 1990 by issuing the Declaration of State
Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic.
[90]

Wide-scale strikes erupted in April 1991. With the

support of the Communist Party of Byelorussia, the
country's name was changed to the Republic of Belarus
on 25 August 1991.[91][89] Stanislav Shushkevich, the
chairman 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 dissolution of the Soviet Union and
the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent
States.[89]
In January 1992, the Belarusian Popular
Front campaigned for early elections later in the year,
two years before they were scheduled. By May of that
year, about 383,000 signatures had been collected for a
petition to hold the referendum, which was 23,000 more
than legally required to be put to a referendum at the
time. Despite this, the meeting of the Supreme Council of
the Republic of Belarus to ultimately decide the date for
said referendum was delayed by six months. However,
with no evidence to suggest such, the Supreme Council
rejected the petition on the grounds of massive
irregularities. Elections for the Supreme Council were set
for March 1994. A new law on parliamentary elections
failed to pass by 1993. Disputes over the referendum
were accredited to the largely conservative Party of
Belarusian Communists, which controlled the Supreme
Council at the time and was largely opposed to political
and economic reform, with allegations that some of the
deputies opposed Belarusian independence.[92]
Lukashenko era
 1997 map of Belarus
A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in
which the functions of prime minister were given to
the President of Belarus. A two-round election for the
presidency on 24 June 1994 and 10 July
1994[27] catapulted the formerly unknown Alexander
Lukashenko into national prominence. He garnered 45%
of the vote in the first round and 80%[89] in the second,
defeating Vyacheslav Kebich who received 14% of the
vote. The elections were the first and only free elections
in Belarus after independence.[93]
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
dispute when Russian energy giant Gazprom ceased the
import of gas 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 pipeline that
runs through Belarus. Two years later the so-called Milk
War, a trade dispute, started when Russia wanted
Belarus to recognize the independence
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and through a series of
events ended up banning the import of dairy products
from Belarus.
In 2011, Belarus suffered a severe economic
crisis attributed to Lukashenko's government's
centralized control of the economy, with inflation
reaching 108.7%.[94] Around the same time the 2011
Minsk Metro bombing 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 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.[95]

Alexander Lukashenko has ruled

Belarus since 1994.
Mass protests erupted across the country following the
disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election,[96] in
which Lukashenko sought a sixth term in office.
[97]
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.[98][99][100][101][102] Neither is Lukashenko
recognized as the legitimate president of Belarus by the
European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom or the
United States.[103][104][105][106] 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.[107][108] Further
sanctions were imposed in 2022 following the country's
role and complicity in the Russian invasion of Ukraine;
Russian troops were allowed to stage part of the
invasion from Belarusian territory.[109][110] These include not
only corporate offices and individual officers of
government but also private individuals who work in
the state-owned enterprise industrial sector.
[111]
Norway and Japan have joined the sanctions regime
which aims to isolate Belarus from the international
supply chain. Most major Belarusian banks are also
under restrictions.[111]
Geography
Main articles: Geography of Belarus and Climate of
Belarus
Belarus lies between latitudes 51° and 57° N, and
longitudes 23° and 33° E. Its extension from north to
south is 560 km (350 mi), from west to east is 650 km
(400 mi).[112] It is landlocked, relatively flat, and contains
large tracts of marshy land.[113] About 40% of Belarus is
covered by forests.[114][115] The country lies within two
ecoregions: Sarmatic mixed forests and Central
European mixed forests.[116]
Many streams and 11,000 lakes are found in Belarus.
[113]
Three major rivers run through the country:
the Neman, the Pripyat, and the Dnieper. The Neman
flows westward towards the Baltic sea and the Pripyat
flows eastward to the Dnieper; the Dnieper flows
southward towards the Black Sea.[117]

Strusta Lake in the Vitebsk Region

The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (Dzyarzhynsk
Hill) at 345 metres (1,132 ft), and the lowest point is on
the Neman River at 90 m (295 ft).[113] The average
elevation of Belarus is 160 m (525 ft) above sea level.
[118]
The climate features mild to cold winters, with
January minimum temperatures ranging from
−4 °C (24.8 °F) in southwest (Brest) to −8 °C (17.6 °F) in
northeast (Vitebsk), and cool and moist summers with an
average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F).[119] Belarus has
an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700 mm (21.7 to
27.6 in).[119] The country is in the transitional zone
between continental climates and maritime climates.[113]
Natural resources include peat deposits, small quantities
of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomite (limestone), marl,
chalk, sand, gravel, and clay.[113] About 70% of the
radiation from neighboring Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl
nuclear disaster entered Belarusian territory, and about a
fifth of Belarusian land (principally farmland and forests
in the southeastern regions) was affected by radiation
fallout.[120] 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.[121][122]
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
border in 2009.[123] Belarus and Lithuania ratified final
border demarcation documents in February 2007.[124]
Government and politics
Main article: Politics of Belarus
 Alexander Lukashenko
President

Roman Golovchenko
Prime Minister

Government House, Minsk

Belarus, by constitution, is a semi-presidential
republic with separation of powers, governed by
a president and the National Assembly. However,
Belarus has been led by a highly centralized and
authoritarian government,[125][4] and has often been
described as "Europe's last dictatorship" and
president Alexander Lukashenko as "Europe's last
dictator"[126] by some media outlets, politicians and
authors.[127][128][129][130] Belarus has been considered
an autocracy where power is ultimately concentrated in
the hands of the president, elections are not free
and judicial independence is weak.[131] The Council of
Europe removed Belarus from its observer status since
1997 as a response for election irregularities in the
November 1996 constitutional referendum and
parliament by-elections.[132][133] 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.[134]
The term for each presidency is five years. 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.[135] 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 result the
election that was supposed to occur in 1999 was pushed
back to 2001. The referendum on the extension was
denounced as a "fantastic" fake by the chief electoral
officer, Viktar Hanchar, who was removed from the office
for official matters only during the campaign.[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).[137]

Victory Square in Minsk

The House of Representatives has the power to appoint
the prime minister, make constitutional amendments, call
for a vote of confidence on the prime minister, and make
suggestions on foreign and domestic policy.[138] The
Council of the Republic has the power to select various
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 constitution.[139]
The government includes a Council of Ministers, headed
by the prime minister and five deputy prime ministers.
[140]
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 national courts are appointed by the
president and confirmed by the Council of the Republic.
For criminal cases, the highest court of appeal is the
Supreme Court. The Belarusian Constitution forbids the
use of special extrajudicial courts.[139]
Elections
Lukashenko was officially re-elected as president in
2001, in 2006, in 2010, in 2015 and again in 2020,
although none of those elections were considered free or
fair nor democratic.[141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148][149][150]
 The former flag of Belarus, used in
1918, then in 1943–44 and then between 1991 and
1995, is widely used as a symbol of opposition to the
government of Alexander Lukashenko.
Neither the pro-Lukashenko parties, such as
the Belarusian Social Sporting Party and the Republican
Party of Labour and Justice (RPTS), nor the People's
Coalition 5 Plus opposition parties, such as the BPF
Party and the United Civic Party, won any seats in
the 2004 elections. The Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) ruled that the elections
were unfair because opposition candidates were
arbitrarily denied registration and the election process
was designed to favor the ruling party.[151]

Protests at October Square in Minsk

in 2006 after the 2006 Belarusian presidential election
In the 2006 presidential election, Lukashenko was
opposed by Alaksandar Milinkievič, who represented a
coalition of opposition parties, and by Alyaksandr
Kazulin of the Social Democrats. Kazulin was detained
and beaten by police during protests surrounding the All
Belarusian People's Assembly. 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.
[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. The
runner-up opposition leader Andrei Sannikov received
less than 3% of the vote; independent observers
criticized the election as fraudulent. When opposition
protesters took to the streets in Minsk, many people,
including some presidential candidates, were beaten and
arrested by the riot police.[154] Many of the candidates,
including Sannikov, were sentenced to prison or house
arrest for terms which are mainly and typically over four
years.[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.[157]
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 Belarusian
Agrarian Party and RPTS, one each.[158] Most non-
partisans represent a wide scope of social organizations
such as workers' collectives, public associations, and
civil society organizations, similar to the composition of
the Soviet legislature.[159]
In the 2020 presidential election, Lukashenko won again
with official results giving him 80% of the vote, leading
to mass protests. The European Union and the United
Kingdom did not recognise the result and the EU
imposed sanctions.[160]
Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Belarus

President Alexander
Lukashenko shaking hands with Russian
President Vladimir Putin, 2015
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.[161] Belarus and Russia have been close trading
partners and diplomatic allies since the breakup of the
Soviet Union. Belarus is dependent on Russia for
imports of raw materials and for its export market.[162]
The Union State, a supranational confederation between
Belarus and Russia, was established in a 1996–99
series of treaties that called for monetary union, equal
rights, single citizenship, and a common foreign and
defense policy. However, the future of the union has
been placed in doubt because of Belarus's repeated
delays of monetary union, the lack of a referendum date
for the draft constitution, and a dispute over the
petroleum trade.[162][163] Belarus was a founding member of
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
[164]
Belarus has trade agreements with several European
Union member states (despite other member states'
travel ban on Lukashenko and top officials),[165] including
neighboring Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.[166] Travel bans
imposed by the European Union have been lifted in the
past in order to allow Lukashenko to attend diplomatic
meetings and also to engage his government and
opposition groups in dialogue.[167]

Leaders of Belarus, Russia,

Germany, France, and Ukraine at the summit 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.[168][169] 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.[170]
Relations between China and Belarus are close,[171] with
Lukashenko visiting China multiple times during his
tenure.[172] Belarus also has strong ties with Syria,
[173]
considered a key partner in the Middle East.[174] In
addition to the CIS, Belarus is a member of the Eurasian
Economic Union (previously the Eurasian Economic
Community), the Collective Security Treaty Organization,
[166]
the international Non-Aligned Movement since 1998,
[175]
and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE). As an OSCE member state, Belarus's
international commitments are subject to monitoring
under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.
[176]
Belarus is included in the European Union's Eastern
Partnership program, part of the EU's European
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which aims to bring the EU
and its neighbours closer in economic and geopolitical
terms.[177] However, Belarus suspended its participation in
the Eastern Partnership program on 28 June 2021, after
the EU imposed more sanctions against the country.[178][179]
Military
Main article: Armed Forces of Belarus

Soldiers patrol in the Białowieża

Forest on the Belarusian border with Poland
Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin heads the Ministry of
Defence,[180] and Alexander Lukashenko (as president)
serves as Commander-in-Chief.[139] The armed forces
were formed in 1992 using parts of the former Soviet
Armed Forces on the new republic's territory. The
transformation of the ex-Soviet forces into the Armed
Forces of Belarus, which was completed in 1997,
reduced the number of its soldiers by 30,000 and
restructured its leadership and military formations.[181]
Most of Belarus's service members are conscripts, who
serve for 12 months if they have higher education or 18
months if they do not.[182] Demographic decreases in the
Belarusians of conscription age have increased the
importance of contract soldiers, who numbered 12,000 in
2001.[183] In 2005, about 1.4% of Belarus's gross domestic
product was devoted to military expenditure.[184]
Belarus has not expressed a desire to join NATO but has
participated in the Individual Partnership Program since
1997,[185] and Belarus provided refueling and airspace
support for the International Security Assistance
Force mission in Afghanistan.[186] Belarus first began to
cooperate with NATO upon signing documents to
participate in their Partnership for Peace Program in
1995.[187] However, Belarus cannot join NATO because it
is a member of the CSTO. Tensions between NATO and
Belarus peaked after the March 2006 presidential
election in Belarus.[188]
Human rights and corruption
Further information: Human rights in Belarus
 This article appears to be slanted
towards recent events. Please try to keep
recent events in historical perspective
and add more content related to non-recent
events. (November 2022)

Graffiti in Gdańsk depicting

Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski
Amnesty International,[189] and Human Rights
Watch[190] have criticized Lukashenko's violations of
human rights. Belarus's Democracy Index rating is the
lowest in Europe, the country is labelled as "not free"
by Freedom House,[191] 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.[192] The
Belarusian government is also criticized for human rights
violations and its persecution of non-governmental
organizations, independent journalists, national
minorities, and opposition politicians.[189][190] Lukashenko
announced a new law in 2014 that will
prohibit kolkhoz workers (around 9% of total work force)
from leaving their jobs at will—a change of job and living
location will require permission from governors. The law
was compared with serfdom by Lukashenko himself.[193]
 Similar regulations were introduced for the forestry
[194]

industry in 2012.[195] Belarus is the only European country

still using capital punishment, having carried out
executions in 2011.[196] LGBT rights in the country are
also ranked among the lowest in Europe.[197] In March
2023, Lukashenko signed a law which allows to use
capital punishment against officials and soldiers
convicted of high treason.[198]
The judicial system in Belarus lacks independence and is
subject to political interference.[199] Corrupt practices such
as bribery often took place during tender processes,
and whistleblower protection and
national ombudsman are lacking in Belarus's anti-
corruption system.[200]

Rally against Lukashenko in Minsk,

23 August 2020
On 1 September 2020, the Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights declared that its
experts received reports of 450 documented cases of
torture and ill-treatment of people who were arrested
during the protests following the presidential election.
The experts also received reports of violence against
women and children, including sexual abuse and rape
with rubber batons.[201] At least three detainees suffered
injuries indicative of sexual violence in Okrestino prison
in Minsk or on the way there. The victims were
hospitalized with intramuscular bleeding of the rectum,
anal fissure and bleeding, and damage to the mucous
membrane of the rectum.[202] In an interview from
September 2020 Lukashenko claimed that detainees
faked their bruises, saying, "Some of the girls there had
their butts painted in blue".[203]
On 23 May 2021, Belarusian authorities forcibly diverted
a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius in order to detain
opposition activist and journalist Roman
Protasevich along with his girlfriend; in response,
the European Union imposed stricter sanctions on
Belarus.[204] In May 2021, Lukashenko threatened that he
will flood the European Union with migrants and drugs as
a response to the sanctions.[205] In July 2021, Belarusian
authorities launched a hybrid warfare by human
trafficking of migrants to the European Union.
[206]
Lithuanian authorities and top European
officials Ursula von der Leyen, Josep Borrell condemned
the usage of migrants as a weapon and suggested that
Belarus could be subject to further sanctions.[207] In
August 2021, Belarusian officials, wearing uniforms, riot
shields and helmets, were recorded on camera near
the Belarus–Lithuania border pushing and urging the
migrants to cross the European Union border.
[208]
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 Belarus–Poland border sharply increased multiple
times when compared to the 2020 statistics.[209][210] Illegal
migrants numbers also exceeded the previous annual
numbers in Latvia.[211] On 2 December 2021, the United
States, European Union, United
Kingdom and Canada imposed new sanctions on
Belarus.[212]
Administrative divisions
Further information: Regions of Belarus and Districts of
Belarus

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.[213] Each region has a provincial legislative
authority, called a region council (Belarusian: абласны
Савет Дэпутатаў; Russian: Областной Совет
депутатов), which is elected by its residents, and a
provincial executive authority called a region
administration (Belarusian: абласны выканаўчы
камітэт; Russian: областной исполнительный
комитет), whose chairman is appointed by the president.
[214]
The regions are further subdivided into 118 raions,
commonly translated as districts (Belarusian: раён;
Russian: район).[213] Each raion has its own legislative
authority, or raion council, (Belarusian: раённы Савет
Дэпутатаў; Russian: районный Совет депутатов)
elected by its residents, and an executive authority or
raion administration appointed by oblast executive
powers.[114] The city of Minsk is split into nine districts and
enjoys special status as the nation's capital at the same
administration level as the oblasts.[215] It is run by an
executive committee and has been granted a charter of
self-rule.[216]
Local government
Local government in Belarus is administered by
administrative-territorial units
(Belarusian: адміністрацыйна-тэрытарыяльныя
адзінкі; Russian: административно-территориальные
единицы), and occurs on two levels: basic and primary.
At the basic level are 118 raions councils and 10 cities of
oblast subordination councils, which are supervised by
the governments of the oblasts.[217] At the primary level
are 14 cities of raion subordination councils, 8 urban-
type settlements councils, and 1,151 village councils.[218]
[219]
The councils are elected by their residents, and have
executive committees appointed by their executive
committee chairs. 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.[217] In either case, the councils
have the power to approve or reject a nonimee for
executive committee chair.
Settlements without their own local council and executive
committee are called territorial units
(Belarusian: тэрытарыяльныя
адзінкі; Russian: территориальные единицы). These
territorial units may also be classified as a city of regional
or raion subordination, urban-type settlement or rural
settlement, but whose government is administered by the
council of another primary or basic unit.[220] 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.[221]
As for 2019, the administrative-territorial and territorial
units include 115 cities, 85 urban-type settlements, and
23,075 rural settlements.[222]
Economy
Main article: Economy of Belarus
 Change in per capita GDP of
Belarus, 1973–2018.[citation needed] Figures are inflation-
adjusted to 2011 International dollars.

Belarus regions by Gross Regional

Product (GRP)
Belarus is a developing country, but at 60th place in the
United Nations' Human Development Index, it has a
"very high" human development.[223] It is one of the most
equal countries in the world,[224] with one of the lowest
Gini-coefficient measures of national resource
distribution, and it ranks 82nd in GDP per capita. In
2019, the share of manufacturing in GDP was 31%, over
two-thirds of this amount fell on manufacturing industries.
[clarification needed]
Manufacturing employed 34.7% of the
workforce.[225] Manufacturing growth is much smaller than
for the economy as a whole—about 2.2% in 2021.
Important agricultural products include potatoes and
cattle byproducts, including meat.[226]
Trade
Belarus has trade relations with over 180 countries. As of
2007, its main trading partners were Russia, which
accounted for about 45% of Belarusian exports and 55%
of imports (which include petroleum),[227] and the EU
countries, with 25% of exports and 20% of imports.[228][229]
[needs update]

In April 2022, as a result of its facilitation of the Russian

invasion of Ukraine, the EU imposed trade sanctions on
Belarus.[230] The sanctions were extended and expanded
in August 2023.[231] These sanctions are in addition to
those imposed following the rigged 2020 "election" of
Lukashenko.[232]
At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991,
Belarus was one of the world's most industrially
developed states by proportion of GDP and the richest
CIS member-state.[233] In 2015, 39.3% of Belarusians
were employed by state-controlled companies, 57.2% by
private companies (in which the government has a
21.1% stake) and 3.5% by foreign companies.[234] In
1994, Belarus's main exports included heavy machinery
(especially tractors), agricultural products, and energy
products.[235] Economically, Belarus involved itself in
the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS), Eurasian Economic Community, and Union
with Russia.[236] In the 1990s, industrial production
plunged due to decreases in imports, investment, and
demand for Belarusian products from its trading partners.
[237]
GDP only began to rise in 1996;[238] the country was
the fastest-recovering former Soviet republic in the terms
of its economy.[239] In 2006, GDP amounted to US$83.1
billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars
(estimate), or about $8,100 per capita.[226] In 2005, GDP
increased by 9.9%; the inflation rate averaged 9.5%.
[226]
Belarus was ranked 80th in the Global Innovation
Index in 2023.[240]
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, under
Lukashenko's leadership, Belarus has maintained
government control of key industries and eschewed the
large-scale privatizations seen in other former Soviet
republics.[241]
Belarus applied to become a member of the World Trade
Organization in 1993.[242] Due to its failure to protect labor
rights, including passing laws forbidding unemployment
or working outside state-controlled sectors,[243] Belarus
lost its EU Generalized System of Preferences status on
21 June 2007, which raised tariff rates to their prior most
favored nation levels.[244]
Employment
The labor force consists of more than 4 million people, of
whom women are slightly more than men.[234] In 2005,
nearly a quarter of the population was employed in
industrial factories. Employment is also high in
agriculture, manufacturing sales, trading goods, and
education. The unemployment rate was 1.5% in 2005,
according to government statistics. There were 679,000
unemployed Belarusians, of whom two-thirds were
women. The unemployment rate has been declining
since 2003, and the overall rate of employment is the
highest since statistics were first compiled in 1995.[234]
Currency

Belarusian
annual GDP and CPI rates 2001–2013[citation needed]
The currency of Belarus is the Belarusian ruble. The
currency was introduced in May 1992 to replace
the Soviet ruble and it has
undergone redenomination twice since then. The first
coins of the Republic of Belarus were issued on 27
December 1996.[245] The ruble was reintroduced with new
values in 2000 and has been in use ever since.[246] In
2007, The National Bank of Belarus abandoned pegging
the Belarusian ruble to the Russian ruble.[247] As part of
the Union of Russia and Belarus, the two states have
discussed using a single currency analogous to the Euro.
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.
On 23 May 2011, the ruble depreciated 56% against the
United States dollar. The depreciation was even steeper
on the black market and financial collapse seemed
imminent as citizens rushed to exchange their rubles for
dollars, euros, durable goods, and canned goods.[248] On
1 June 2011, Belarus requested an economic rescue
package from the International Monetary Fund.[249][250] A
new currency, the new Belarusian ruble (ISO 4217 code:
BYN)[251] was introduced in July 2016, replacing
the Belarusian ruble in a rate of 1:10,000 (10,000 old
ruble = 1 new ruble). From 1 July until 31 December
2016, the old and new currencies were in parallel
circulation and series 2000 notes and coins could be
exchanged for series 2009 from 1 January 2017 to 31
December 2021.[251] This redenomination can be
considered an effort to fight the high inflation rate.[252]
[253]
On 6 October 2022, Lukashenko banned price
increases, to combat food inflation.[254] In January 2023,
Belarus legalized copyright
infringement of media and intellectual property created
by "unfriendly" foreign nations.[255]
The banking system of Belarus consists of two levels:
Central Bank (National Bank of the Republic of Belarus)
and 25 commercial banks.[256]
Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of Belarus and Belarusians
According to the 2019 census the population was 9.41
million[257] with ethnic Belarusians constituting 84.9% of
Belarus's total population.[257] Minority groups
include: Russians (7.5%), Poles (3.1%),
and Ukrainians (1.7%).[257] Belarus has a population
density of about 50 people per square kilometre (127 per
sq mi); 70% of its total population is concentrated in
urban areas.[258] Minsk, the nation's capital and largest
city, was home to 1,937,900 residents in 2015.[259] Gomel,
with a population of 481,000, is the second-largest city
and serves as the capital of the Gomel Region. Other
large cities
are Mogilev (365,100), Vitebsk (342,400), Grodno (314,8
00) and Brest (298,300).[260]
Like many other Eastern European countries, Belarus
has a negative population growth rate and a negative
natural growth rate. In 2007, Belarus's population
declined by 0.41% and its fertility rate was 1.22,
[261]
well below the replacement rate. Its net migration
rate is +0.38 per 1,000, indicating that Belarus
experiences slightly 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 also aging; the median age of 30–34 is
estimated to rise to between 60 and 64 in 2050.[262] There
are about 0.87 males per female in Belarus.[261] The
average life expectancy is 72.15 (66.53 years for men
and 78.1 years for women).[261] Over 99% of Belarusians
aged 15 and older are literate.[261]
 Largest cities or
Sour
Rank Name
1 Minsk Minsk Reg
2 Gomel Gomel Re
3 Mogilev Mogilev R
4 Vitebsk Vitebsk R
Minsk 5 Grodno Grodno Re
6 Brest Brest Regi
7 Babruysk Mogilev R
8 Baranavichy Brest Regi
Gomel 9 Barysaw Minsk Reg
10 Pinsk Brest Regi
Religion
Main article: Religion in Belarus
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk is one of the oldest
churches in Belarus. Its current style is an ideal example
of baroque architecture in the former Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
According to the census of November 2011, 58.9% of all
Belarusians adhered to some kind of religion; out of
those, Eastern Orthodoxy made up about 82%: Eastern
Orthodox in Belarus are mainly part of the Belarusian
Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, though a
small Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church also
exists.[263] Roman Catholicism is practiced mostly in the
western regions, and there are also different
denominations of Protestantism.[264][265] Minorities also
practice Greek Catholicism, Judaism, Islam and neo-
paganism. 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.[263]
Belarus's Catholic minority is concentrated in the
western part of the country, especially around Grodno,
consisting in a mixture of Belarusians and the
country's Polish and Lithuanian minorities.[266] President
Lukashenko has stated that Orthodox and Catholic
believers are the "two main confessions in our country".
[267]

Belarus was once a major center of European Jews, with

10% of the population being Jewish. 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.
[268]
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 order can be prohibited.[213]
Languages
Main article: Languages of Belarus

Bilingual Belarusian–Russian sign in

Belarusian town Rakaw in 2014
Belarus's two official languages are Russian
and Belarusian;[269] 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%.[270] Minorities also
speak Polish, Ukrainian and Eastern Yiddish.
[271]
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%.
[270]
Following the election of Alexander Lukashenko, most
schools in major cities began to teach in Russian rather
than Belarusian.[272] The annual circulation of Belarusian-
language literature also significantly decreased from
1990 to 2020.[273]
Culture
Main article: Culture of Belarus
Arts and literature
The Opera and Ballet Theater in Minsk
The Belarusian government sponsors annual cultural
festivals such as the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk,
[274]
which showcases Belarusian performers, artists,
writers, musicians, and actors. Several state holidays,
such as Independence Day and Victory Day, draw big
crowds and often include displays such as fireworks and
military parades, especially in Vitebsk and Minsk.[275] The
government's Ministry of Culture finances events
promoting Belarusian arts and culture both inside and
outside the country.
Belarusian literature[276] began with 11th- to 13th-century
religious scripture, such as the 12th-century poetry
of Cyril of Turaw.[277]
By the 16th 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 book printed in Belarus or
anywhere in Eastern Europe.[278] The modern era of
Belarusian literature began in the late 19th century; one
prominent writer was Yanka Kupala. Many Belarusian
writers of the time, 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 now is published in Minsk.[279]
After Belarus was incorporated into the Soviet Union, the
Soviet government took control of the Republic's cultural
affairs. At first, a policy of "Belarusianization" was
followed in the newly formed Byelorussian SSR. This
policy was reversed in the 1930s, and the majority of
prominent Belarusian intellectuals and nationalist
advocates were either exiled or killed in Stalinist purges.
[280]
The free development 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.[278]
 Poet and librettist Vintsent Dunin-
Martsinkyevich
The last major revival of Belarusian literature occurred in
the 1960s with novels published by Vasil
Bykaŭ and Uladzimir Karatkievich. An influential author
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 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2015,
as "her main teacher, who helped her to find a path of
her own".[281]
Music in Belarus largely comprises a rich tradition of folk
and religious music. The country's folk music traditions
can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania. In the 19th century, Polish
composer Stanisław Moniuszko composed operas and
chamber music pieces while living in Minsk. During his
stay, he worked with Belarusian poet Vintsent Dunin-
Martsinkyevich and created the opera Sialanka (Peasant
Woman). At the end of the 19th century, major
Belarusian cities formed their own opera and ballet
companies. 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.[282][better source needed]
After the Second World War, music focused on the
hardships of the Belarusian people or on those who took
up arms in defense of the homeland. During this
period, Anatoly Bogatyrev, creator of the opera In
Polesye Virgin Forest, served as the "tutor" of Belarusian
composers.[283] 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.[283] Rock
music has become increasingly popular in recent years,
though the Belarusian government has attempted to limit
the amount of foreign music aired on the radio in favor of
traditional Belarusian music. Since 2004, Belarus has
been sending artists to the Eurovision Song Contest.[284]
[285]

Marc Chagall was born in Liozna (near Vitebsk) in 1887.

He spent the World War I years in Soviet Belarus,
becoming one of the country's most distinguished artists
and a member of the modernist avant-garde and was a
founder of the Vitebsk Arts College.[286][287]
Dress
The traditional Belarusian dress originates from
the Kievan Rus' period. Due to the cool climate, clothes
were designed to conserve body heat and were usually
made from flax or wool. They were decorated with ornate
patterns influenced by the neighboring cultures: Poles,
Lithuanians, Latvians, Russians, and other European
nations. Each region of Belarus has developed specific
design patterns.[288] One ornamental pattern common in
early dresses currently decorates the hoist of
the Belarusian national flag, adopted in a disputed
referendum in 1995.[289]
Cuisine

Draniki, the national dish

Belarusian cuisine consists mainly of vegetables, meat
(particularly pork), and bread. Foods are usually either
slowly cooked or stewed. Typically, Belarusians eat a
light breakfast and two hearty meals later in the
day. Wheat and rye bread are consumed in Belarus, but
rye is more plentiful because conditions are too harsh for
growing wheat. To show hospitality, a host traditionally
presents an offering of bread and salt when greeting a
guest or visitor.[290]
Sport
This article appears to be slanted
towards recent events. Please try to keep
recent events in historical perspective
and add more content related to non-recent
 events. (November 2020)
See also: Belarus at the Olympics
Belarus has competed in the Olympic Games since
the 1994 Winter Olympics as an independent nation.
Receiving heavy sponsorship from the government, ice
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 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. Numerous Belarusian players are present
in the Kontinental Hockey League in Eurasia, particularly
for Belarusian club HC Dinamo Minsk, and several have
also 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 concerns. The 2021 UEC
European Track Championships in cycling was also
cancelled because Belarus was not considered a safe
host.
 Victoria Azarenka,
professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in
singles
Darya Domracheva is a leading biathlete whose honours
include three gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
[291]
Tennis player Victoria Azarenka became the first
Belarusian to win a Grand Slam singles title at
the Australian Open in 2012.[292] She also won the gold
medal in mixed doubles at the 2012 Summer
Olympics with Max Mirnyi, who holds ten Grand Slam
titles in doubles.
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. Andrei Arlovski, who was born
in Babruysk, Byelorussian SSR, is a current UFC fighter
and the former UFC heavyweight champion of the world.
Belarus is also known for its strong rhythmic gymnasts.
Noticeable gymnasts include Inna Zhukova, who earned
silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liubov Charkashyna,
who earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics
and Melitina Staniouta, Bronze All-Around Medalist of
the 2015 World Championships. The Belarusian senior
group earned bronze at the 2012 London Olympics.