Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. 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.
Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school.
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making him the current longest-serving head of state in Europe.
The Communist Party of Belarus is a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Belarus. The party was created in 1996 and supports the government of president Alexander Lukashenko. The leader of the party is Sergei Syrankov. The party has had more seats in the National Assembly of Belarus than any other party since the 2000 Belarusian parliamentary election, the first national election it participated in. However, most seats in the Belarusian legislature are held by independent politicians.
Agniya Lvovna Barto was a Russian Soviet poet and children's writer of Belarusian Jewish origin.
Currently, Belarus has an embassy in Riga, while Latvia has an embassy in Minsk. The countries share 161 km as it relates to their common border.
Diplomatic relations between Belarus and Uzbekistan were established on 21 January 1993, with the Belarusian Embassy in Tashkent being opened in February 1994. Uzbekistan also has an embassy in Minsk.
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko, whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism.
The modern-day characteristics of women in Belarus evolved from the events that happened in the history of Belarus, particularly when the "concept of equal rights for women was first developed and substantiated in the late 16th century". The so-called Grand Duchy Charter of 1588 – one of the most important legal documents in Belarusian history – protected the dignity of Belarusian women under the law. Women in Belarus and their contribution to Belarusian society is celebrated annually on 8 March, during International Women's Day.
Valentin Dmitrievich Berestov was a Russian poet, lyricist, who wrote for both adults and children, translator, memoirist, Pushkin scholar, researcher.
Independence Square is a square in Minsk, Belarus. It is one of the landmarks on Independence Avenue. The National Assembly of Belarus and Minsk City Hall are on this square. During the period of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic it was called Lenin Square. It is currently one of the largest squares in Europe.
Maksim Yuryevich Nedasekau is a Belarusian athlete specialising in the high jump and praporshchik of the Sports Committee of the Armed Forces of Belarus. He was the bronze medallist at the 2020 Olympic Games. He also won the gold medals at the 2021 European Indoor Championships, 2019 European U23 Championships and 2017 European U20 Championships.
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August.
Sergei Leonidovich Tikhanovsky, also transliterated as Syarhey Leanidavich Tsikhanouski, is a Belarusian YouTuber, video blogger, dissident and pro-democracy activist. He is considered by Amnesty International to be a prisoner of conscience. He is known primarily for his activism against the government of Belarus's long-serving president, Alexander Lukashenko. In May 2020, he announced his intention of running for the 2020 presidential election, but he was arrested two days after the announcement, and his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya then ran in place of him as the main rival to Lukashenko in the contested election.
Events in the year 2020 in Belarus.
The 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of mass political demonstrations and protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus, the demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought his sixth term in office. In response to the demonstrations, a number of relatively small pro-government rallies were held.
Maria Kalesnikava is a Belarusian professional flutist and political activist. In 2020, she headed Viktar Babaryka's electoral campaign during the presidential elections of 2020 in Belarus. Kalesnikava represented the united campaign of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, then she became a member of the presidium of the Coordination Council formed during the 2020 Belarusian protests in opposition to the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. She is also a founder of the 'Razam' political party.
A constitutional referendum was held in Belarus on 27 February 2022. The referendum was ordered by President Alexander Lukashenko in January 2022. According to political analysts, changes to the Belarusian constitution were intended to solidify the power of Lukashenko's regime after the mass protests in 2020 and 2021, which challenged his rule and was brutally suppressed by police. More than 35,000 people were arrested, 1,070 of whom are acknowledged political prisoners. The changes to the Constitution allow Lukashenko to remain in office until 2035 and empower the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, an extra-parliamentary body dominated by government supporters. The changes also renounced Belarus's nuclear-free zone status, allowing Belarus to host nuclear weapons for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union; the lead-up to the referendum occurred as Russia amassed its troops in both Russia and Belarus in the prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the election itself was held several days after Russia began its military offensive into Ukraine.
The 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of political demonstrations and protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko. The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus, the demonstrations began in the lead-up to and during the 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko sought his sixth term in office. In response to the demonstrations, a number of relatively small pro-government rallies were held.
The Freedom March was a 1999 protest by the Belarusian opposition in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The protest was caused as a result of fears of Belarus being annexed into Russia as part of the then-impending ratification of the Union State. Additional concerns of protesters were the enforced disappearances of opposition politicians Viktar Hanchar and Yury Zacharanka and, more broadly, the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko. The protest, which ended in a violent confrontation between the city's police and protesters, resulted in the Belarusian government walking back plans for the Union State and the continued independence of Belarus from Russia.
