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Belarus
Last update: Saturday 11th of February 2012
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| Рэспубліка Беларусь Республика Беларусь Republic of Belarus | |||||
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| Motto: none | |||||
| Anthem: Мы, беларусы (Belarusian) My, Belarusy (transliteration) "We Belarusians" | |||||
 Location of Belarus (orange) on the European continent (white) — | |||||
| Capital (and largest city) |  Minsk | ||||
| Official languages | Belarusian, Russian | ||||
| Government | Parliamentary republic | ||||
| - President | Alexander Lukashenko | ||||
| - Prime Minister | Sergey Sidorsky | ||||
| Independence | from the Soviet Union | ||||
| - Declared | July 27, 1990 | ||||
| - Established | August 25, 1991 | ||||
| - Completed | December 25, 1991 | ||||
| Area | |||||
| - Total | 207,600 km² (93rd) 80,155 sq mi | ||||
| - Water (%) | negligible (183 km²) | ||||
| Population | |||||
| - 2006 estimate | 10,293,011 (79th) | ||||
| - 1999 census | 10,045,237 | ||||
| - Density | 49 /km² (142nd) 127 /sq mi | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2005 estimate | ||||
| - Total | $79.13 billion (64th) | ||||
| - Per capita | $7,700 (78th) | ||||
| HDI (2004) |  0.794 (medium) (67th) | ||||
| Currency | rouble (BYR) | ||||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||||
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||||
| Internet TLD | .by | ||||
| Calling code | +375 | ||||
Belarus (Belarusian: Беларусь, Russian: Беларусь, Transliteration: Byelarus') is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordering Russia to the east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk and other major cities include Brest, Grodno, Gomel, Mogilev and Vitebsk. One third of the country is forested, and industries such as agriculture and manufacturing are staples of the Belarusian economy.
At different points in its history, parts of Belarus have been under the control of several countries, including the Duchy of Polatsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. Belarus became a Soviet republic in 1922 (see Byelorussian SSR). The republic declared its sovereignty on 27 July 1990. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus officially declared independence on 25 August 1991. Since 1994, Alexander Lukashenko has been the country's president. Belarus is currently in negotiations with Russia to unify into a single state: the Union of Russia and Belarus.
Belarus is also the only European nation that has been formally barred from joining the Council of Europe because of human rights violations and for conducting elections that do not meet democratic standards.
A Russian reporter who died after falling out of a window was investigating sales of weapons by Russia to Syria and Iran, his newspaper Kommersant said Tuesday.Ivan Safronov had told his newspaper that he had "received information" about the sale of Sukhoi-34 fighter jets to Syria and S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran via Belarus.
Least corrupt countries: Iceland, New Zealand, Denmark, Greenland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Canada Most corrupt countries: Belarus, Côte d'Ivoire, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Bangladesh, Sudan, Guinea, Iraq, Myanmar.