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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Belarus

Byelorussia \Byelorussia\ n. a European country east of Poland, formerly a part of the Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Soviet Union the name was changed to Belarus.

Syn: Belarus, Belorussia, White Russia.

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Belarus

Belarus ( ; , tr. , ; ), officially the Republic of Belarus, formerly and sometimes known as Byelorussia is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Hrodna (Grodno), Homiel (Gomel), Mahilioŭ (Mogilev) and Vitsebsk (Vitebsk). Over 40% of its is forested. Its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing. Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including the Principality of Polotsk (11th to 14th centuries), the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire.

In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian People's Republic, which was conquered by Soviet Russia as the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Byelorussian SSR). Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1921. 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 WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945 Belarus became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR.

The parliament of the republic declared the sovereignty of Belarus on 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 1991. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the country's president since 1994. Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. Elections under Lukashenko's rule have been widely criticized as unfair by the international community; and according to many countries and organizations, political opposition has been violently suppressed. Belarus's Democracy Index rating was the lowest in Europe until 2014 (when it was passed by Russia), the country is labelled as "not free" by Freedom House, "repressed" in the Index of Economic Freedom, and is rated as by far the worst country for press freedom in Europe in the 2013–14 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Belarus 157th out of 180 nations.

In 2000 Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, with some hints of forming a Union State. Over 70% of Belarus's population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas. More than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians, Poles and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages: Belarusian and Russian. The Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The second most widespread religious group, Roman Catholicism, has a much smaller following; nevertheless, Belarus celebrates both Orthodox and Catholic versions of Christmas and Easter as national holidays. Belarus is the only country in Europe which retains capital punishment in law and in practice.

Belarus (tractor)

Belarus («Белару́с», earlier «Белару́сь») is a series of four-wheeled tractors produced since 1950 at Minsk Tractor Works, MTZ (Мінскі трактарны завод; Ми́нский тра́кторный заво́д, МТЗ) in Minsk, Belarus.

These tractors are very well known throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States and are exported to more than 100 countries worldwide, including the United States and Canada.

Belarus (disambiguation)

Belarus may refer to:

  • The Republic of Belarus, a nation in eastern Europe roughly corresponding to the historic region of White Ruthenia
  • Belarus (Беларус), a brand name of tractors and farm machinery manufactured at the Minsk Tractor Works
  • Belarus (Беларус), a Belarusian newspaper published in United States
  • Radio Station Belarus
  • Belarus (pianos), a Belarusian piano manufacturer
Belarus (pianos)

Belarus is a Belarusian manufacturer of upright pianos, founded in 1935 in Belarus (then the Soviet Union). Currently it is owned by the joint-stock company "Muzinstrument - Borisov". It is also known as the piano manufactures Sängler & Söhne, Schubert and Wieler pianos.

Usage examples of "belarus".

Forty correspondents in the hall came from Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, and Armenia.

Even by the winter of 1999 over fifty percent of Russians still lived largely unseen and unrecorded in the small towns, villages, and countryside, that vast spread of land from Belarus to Vladivostok, run­ning across six thousand miles and nine time zones.

In each open office, men leaned over computer terminals and keyboards, while in the Primary Command Center, wall-sized monitors displayed electronic maps of all the former Union, with color-coded symbols marking the units mobilizing now on one side or the other from Belarus to the Far East.

Leonov's forces have launched a major offensive in the south, and Red units have invaded Ukraine and Belarus.

Now it was a civil war being fought on a ragged line all the way from Minsk to Vladivostok, one that already had engulfed Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan and might well soon involve China, North Korea, and most of Europe as well.

Just in case, though, Dobrynin's orders listed twenty targets, from Minsk in Belarus to Khabarovsk in the Far East.

In case you don't recognize him, since the Russians have kept him under wraps for many years now, the speaker is Vladimir Denisovitch Porotchkot, a citizen of Belarus who until several days ago was kept against his will in the service of a foreign power, Russia.

I'm from Belarus, we make a big deal about being a separate country, but in our hearts, we don't mind the thought of Russia being the country that comes out on top.

Nobody outside of Belarus gives a lobster tit about how we're not really Russians.