Belarus Map

• Belarus is divided into six regions (Belarusian: вобласць, Russian: область), which are named after the cities that serve as their administrative centers. Each region has a provincial legislative authority, called an region council (Belarusian: абласны Савет Дэпутатаў, Russian: областной Совет Депутатов), which is elected by its residents, and a provincial executive authority called region administration (Belarusian: абласны выканаўчы камітэт, Russian: областной исполнительный комитет), whose leader is appointed by the president. Regions are further subdivided into raions, commonly translated as districts or regions (Belarusian: раён, Russian: район).

• 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 higher executive powers. As of 2002, there are six regions, 118 raions, 102 towns and 108 urbanized settlements. The city of Minsk itself is split into nine districts and is given a special status, due to the city serving as the national capital. Minsk City is run by an executive committee and granted a charter of self-rule by the national government.

• Regions (with administrative centers):Brest Voblast (Brest)Homiel Voblast (Gomel)Hrodna Voblast (Grodno)Mahilou Voblast (Mogilev)Minsk Voblast (Minsk)Vitsebsk Voblast (Vitebsk)Special administrative district:Minsk City

• In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Poland, marking the beginning of World War II. Much of northeastern Poland, which had been part of the country since the Peace of Riga two decades earlier, was annexed to the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, and now constitutes West Belarus. The Soviet-controlled Belarusian People Council officially took control of the territories, which had a predominantly ethnic Belarusian population, on 28 October 1939, in Białystok.

• Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 – the Brest Fortress, which had been annexed in 1939, received one of the fiercest of the war's opening blows, with its notable defense in 1941 coming to be remembered as an act of heroism in countering the German aggression. Statistically, BSSR was the hardest hit Soviet republic in the war and remained in Nazi hands until 1944. During that time, Germany destroyed 209 out of 290 cities in the republic, 85% of the republic's industry, and more than one million buildings. Casualties were estimated to be between two and three million (about a quarter to one-third of the total population), while the Jewish population of Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. The population of Belarus did not regain its pre-war level until 1971.

• After the war ended, Belarus was officially among the 51 founding countries of the United Nations Charter in 1945; along with Ukraine it was given an additional vote at the UN alongside that of the Soviet Union. Intense post-war reconstruction was initiated promptly. During this time, the Belorussian SSR became a major center of manufacturing in the western region of the USSR, increasing jobs and bringing an influx of ethnic Russians into the republic. The borders of Belorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn to a point known as the Curzon Line.

• Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the Belorussian SSR from Western influences. This policy involved sending Russians from various parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key positions in the Belorussian SSR government. The official use of the Belarusian language and other cultural aspects were limited by Moscow. After Stalin died in 1953, successor Nikita Khrushchev continued this program, stating, "The sooner we all start speaking Russian, the faster we shall build communism."

• The Belorussian SSR was significantly exposed to nuclear fallout from the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant in neighboring Ukrainian SSR in 1986.

• In June 1988 at the rural site of Kurapaty near Minsk, archaeologist Zyanon Paznyak, the leader of Christian Conservative Party of the BPF, discovered mass graves of victims executed in 1937–1941. Some nationalists contend that this discovery is proof that the Soviet government was trying to erase the Belarusian people, causing Belarusian nationalists to seek independence.

• Two years later, in March 1990, elections for seats in the Supreme Soviet of the Belorussian SSR took place. Though the pro-independence Belarusian Popular Front took only 10% of the seats, the populace was content with the selection of the delegates. Belarus declared itself sovereign on 27 July 1990, by issuing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. With the support of the Communist Party, the country's name was changed to the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991. 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 Belavezhskaya Pushcha to formally declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

• A national constitution was adopted in March 1994, in which the functions of prime minister were given to the president. Two-round elections for the presidency (24 June 1994 and 10 July 1994) resulted in the politically unknown Alexander Lukashenko winning more than 45% of the vote in the first round and 80% in the second round, beating Vyacheslav Kebich who got 14%. Lukashenko was reelected in 2001, in 2006 and in 2010.

• Most of the Belarusian economy remains state-controlled, and has been described as "Soviet-style." Thus, 51.2% of Belarusians are employed by state-controlled companies, 47.4% are employed by private Belarusian companies (of which 5.7% are partially foreign-owned), and 1.4% are employed by foreign companies. The country relies on imports such as oil from Russia. Important agricultural products include potatoes and cattle byproducts, including meat. As of 1994, the biggest exports from Belarus were heavy machinery (especially tractors), agricultural products, and energy products.

• Historically important branches of industry include textiles and wood processing. As of the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus was one of the world's most industrially developed states by percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) as well as the richest CIS state. Economically, Belarus involved itself in the CIS, Eurasian Economic Community, and Union with Russia.

• During the 1990s, however, industrial production plunged because of decreases in imported inputs, in investment, and in demand for exports from traditional trading partners. It took until 1996 for the gross domestic product to rise; this coincided with the government putting more emphasis on using the GDP for social welfare and state subsidies. The GDP for 2006 was US$83.1 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars (estimate), or about $8,100 per capita. In 2005, the gross domestic product increased by about 9.9%, with the inflation rate averaging about 9.5%.

• As of 2006, Belarus's largest trading partner is Russia, accounting for nearly half of total trade, and the European Union is Belarus's next largest trading partner, with nearly a third of foreign trade. Because of its failure to protect labor rights, however, Belarus lost its E.U. Generalized System of Preferences status on 21 June 2007, which raised tariff rates to their prior most favoured nation levels. Belarus applied to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 1993.

• The labor force consists of more than four million people, among whom women hold slightly more jobs than men. In 2005, nearly a quarter of the population was employed by industrial factories. Employment is also high in agriculture, manufacturing sales, trading goods, and education. The unemployment rate, according to Belarusian government statistics, was about 1.5% in 2005. The number of unemployed persons totaled 679,000 of whom about two-thirds are women. The rate of unemployment has been decreasing since 2003, and the overall rate is the highest since statistics were first compiled in 1995.

• The currency of Belarus is the Belarusian ruble (BYR). The currency was introduced in May 1992, replacing the Soviet ruble. The ruble was reintroduced with new values in 2000 and has been in use ever since. As part of the Union of Russia and Belarus, both states have discussed using a single currency along the same lines as 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. As of August 2007, the National Bank of Belarus no longer pegged the Belarusian Ruble to the Russian Ruble. The banking system of Belarus is composed of 30 state-owned banks and one privatized bank. On 23 May 2011, the Belarusian Ruble was devalued by 56% against the U.S. dollar. On the black market, the devaluation has dropped even lower. Panic has spread across the country as citizens rushed to exchange their rubles for dollars, euros, durable goods and canned goods. On 1 June 2011 Belarus requested an economic rescue package from the International Monetary Fund.

• 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. The Union of Russia and Belarus, a supranational confederation, was established in a 1996–99 series of treaties that called for monetary union, equal rights, 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 2006–07 dispute about petroleum trade.

• On 11 December 2007, reports emerged that a framework for the new state was discussed between both countries. On 27 May 2008, Belarusian President Lukashenko said that he had named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the "prime minister" of the Russia-Belarus alliance. The meaning of the move was not immediately clear; however, there was speculation that Putin might become President of a unified state of Russia and Belarus after stepping down as Russian president in May 2008, although this has not happened.

• Belarus was a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); however, recently other CIS members have questioned the effectiveness of the organization. Belarus has trade agreements with several European Union member states (despite other member states' travel ban on Lukashenko and top officials), including its neighbors Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. The travel bans from the European Union have been lifted in the past for not only letting Lukashenko attend diplomatic meetings but also as a way to engage both the government and opposition groups in dialogue.

• Bilateral relations with the United States are strained because the U.S. Department of State supports various anti-Lukashenko NGOs and because the Belarusian government has made it harder for US-based organizations to operate within the country. The 2004 US Belarus Democracy Act continued this trend, authorizing funding for what the US considers to be pro-democracy Belarusian NGOs and forbidding loans to the Belarusian government except for humanitarian purposes. Despite this, the two nations cooperate on intellectual property protection, prevention of human trafficking and technology crime, and disaster relief.

• Belarus has increased cooperation with China, strengthened by the visit of President Lukashenko to China in October 2005. Belarus has strong ties with Syria, which President Lukashenko considers a key partner in the Middle East. In addition to the CIS, Belarus has membership in the Eurasian Economic Community and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. Belarus has been a member of the international Non-Aligned Movement since 1998 and a member of the UN since its founding in 1945. Belarus is also a member of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As an OSCE participating State, Belarus's international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the U.S. Helsinki Commission.

• Lukashenko has described himself as having an "authoritarian ruling style." Western countries have described Belarus under Lukashenko as a dictatorship; the government has accused the same Western powers of trying to oust Lukashenko. The Council of Europe has barred Belarus from membership since 1997 for undemocratic voting and election irregularities in the November 1996 constitutional referendum and parliament by-elections. The Belarusian government is also criticized for human rights violations and its actions against non-governmental organizations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians.

• The constitution was also changed by Lukashenko in 2004 to lift the two-term limit for the presidency. Previously in 1996, Lukashenko called for a controversial vote to extend the presidential term from five years to seven years and the voters passed it. In testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled Belarus among the six nations of the "outposts of tyranny". In response, the Belarusian government called the assessment "quite far from reality".