Belarus

total:

2.79 cu km/yr (23%/47%/30%)

per capita:

286 cu m/yr (2000)

party to:

Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

at birth:

1.06 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

0.94 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.47 male(s)/female

total population:

0.87 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

noun:

Belarusian(s)

adjective:

Belarusian

conventional long form:

Republic of Belarus

conventional short form:

Belarus

local long form:

Respublika Byelarus'

local short form:

Byelarus'

former:

Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic

name:

Minsk

geographic coordinates:

53 54 N, 27 34 E

time difference:

UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

• 15 March 1994;
• revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996;
• revised again 17 October 2004 removing presidential term limits

chief of state:

President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)

head of government:

Prime Minister Sergey SIDORSKIY (since 19 December 2003); First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir SEMASHKO (since December 2003)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers

elections:

• president elected by popular vote for a five-year term;
• first election took place 23 June and 10 July 1994;
• according to the 1994 constitution, the next election should have been held in 1999, however, Aleksandr LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996 referendum;
• subsequent election held 9 September 2001;
• an October 2004 referendum ended presidential term limits and allowed the president to run in a third election, which was held on 19 March 2006;
• prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president

election results:

• Aleksandr LUKASHENKO reelected president;
• percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 82.6%, Aleksandr MILINKEVICH 6%, Aleksandr KOZULIN 2.3%;
• note - election marred by electoral fraud

• Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president);
• Constitutional Court (half of the judges appointed by the president and half appointed by the Chamber of Representatives)

pro-government parties:

• Agrarian Party or AP [Mikhail SHIMANSKY];
• Communist Party of Belarus or KPB;
• Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Nikolay ULAKHOVICH, chairman];
• Liberal Democratic Party [Sergey GAYDUKEVICH];
• Republican Party of Labor and Justice [Viktor SOKOLOV];
• Social-Sports Party [Vladimir ALEXANDROVICH]

opposition parties:

• Belarusian Christian Democracy Party (unregistered) [Pavel SEVERINETS];
• Belarusian Party of Communists or PKB [Sergey KALYAKIN];
• Belarusian Party of Labor (unregistered) [Aleksandr BUKHVOSTOV, Leonid LEMESHONAK];
• Belarusian Popular Front or BPF [Levon BARSHCHEVSKIY];
• Belarusian Social-Democratic Gramada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH];
• Belarusian Social Democratic Party Hramada (People's Assembly) or BSDPH [Anatoliy LEVKOVICH];
• European Coalition [Nikolay STATKEVICH];
• Green Party [Oleg GROMYKO];
• Party of Freedom and Progress (unregistered) [Vladimir NOVOSYAD];
• United Civic Party or UCP [Anatoliy LEBEDKO];
• Women's Party Hope (Nadezhda) [Valentina MATUSEVICH, chairperson]

other opposition includes:

• Christian Conservative BPF [Zyanon PAZNIAK];
• Ecological Party of Greens [Mikhail KARTASH];
• Party of Popular Accord [Sergey YERMAKK];
• Republican Party [Vladimir BELAZOR]

• Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs [Sergey MATSKEVICH];
• Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions [Aleksandr YAROSHUK];
• Belarusian Helsinki Committee [Tatiana PROTKO];
• Belarusian Organization of Working Women [Irina ZHIKHAR];
• BPF-Youth [Franak VYACHORKA];
• Charter 97 [Andrey SANNIKOV];
• For Freedom [Aleksandr MILINKEVICH];
• Lenin Communist Union of Youth (youth wing of the Belarusian Party of Communists or PKB);
• National Strike Committee of Entrepreneurs [Aleksandr VASILYEV, Valery LEVONEVSKY];
• Partnership NGO [Nikolay ASTREYKA];
• Perspektiva kiosk watchdog NGO [Anatol SHUMCHENKO];
• Vyasna [Ales BYALATSKY];
• Women's Independent Democratic Movement [Ludmila PETINA];
• Young Belarus (Malady Belarus) [Artur FINKEVICH];
• Youth Front (Malady Front) [Dmitriy DASHKEVICH];
• Zubr youth group [Vladimir KOBETS]

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge D'Affaires Oleg KRAVCHENKO

chancery:

1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone:

[1] (202) 986-1604

FAX:

[1] (202) 986-1805

consulate(s) general:

New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Jonathan MOORE

embassy:

46 Starovilenskaya Street, Minsk 220002

mailing address:

PSC 78, Box B Minsk, APO 09723

telephone:

[375] (17) 210-12-83, 217-7347 through 7348

FAX:

[375] (17) 234-7853

• red horizontal band (top) and green horizontal band one-half the width of the red band;
• a white vertical stripe on the hoist side bears Belarusian national ornamentation in red;
• the red band color recalls past struggles from oppression, the green band represents hope and the many forests of the country

agriculture:

14%

industry:

34.7%

services:

51.3% (2003 est.)

lowest 10%:

3.6%

highest 10%:

22% (2005)

general assessment:

• Belarus lags behind its neighbors in upgrading telecommunications infrastructure;
• state-owned Beltelcom is the sole provider of fixed-line local and long distance service;
• fixed-line teledensity of roughly 35 per 100 persons;
• mobile-cellular telephone density of about 90 per 100 persons;
• modernization of the network progressing with roughly two-thirds of switching equipment now digital

domestic:

• fixed-line penetration is improving although rural areas continue to be underserved;
• 3 GSM wireless networks are experiencing rapid growth;
• strict government controls on telecommunications technologies

international:

• country code - 375;
• Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line (TEL), Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line, and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line (TSL);
• 3 fiber-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine;
• worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure;
• additional analog lines to Russia;
• Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations (2008)

total:

5,538 km

country comparison to the world: 32

broad gauge:

5,512 km 1.520-m gauge (874 km electrified)

standard gauge:

25 km 1.435-m gauge (2008)

total:

94,797 km

country comparison to the world: 48

paved:

84,028 km

unpaved:

10,769 km (2005)

males age 16-49:

2,491,643

females age 16-49:

2,528,779 (2008 est.)

males age 16-49:

1,720,049

females age 16-49:

2,069,898 (2009 est.)

male:

60,009

female:

56,834 (2009 est.)

• Boundary demarcated with Latvia and Lithuania in 2006;
• 1997 boundary delimitation treaty with Ukraine remains unratified over unresolved financial claims, preventing demarcation and diminishing border security

• limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the domestic market;
• transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe;
• a small and lightly regulated financial center;
• anti-money-laundering legislation does not meet international standards and was weakened further when know-your-customer requirements were curtailed in 2008;
• few investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities (2008)