LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Belarus: White Russia
built 650 days ago
Since president Lukashenko in 1994 has come to power, the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus has been favoured by the government. This has been particularly evident in tax breaks that have allowed the Church to become a large-scale exporter of tax-free vodka and cigarettes. A new religion law was passed in 2003 against the will of Catholics, Protestants as well as other believers. They complain that it discriminates against them, giving preference to the Orthodox Church in many areas.
Source:
The Republic of Belarus is situated in the center of Europe on the watershed of the Baltic and Black Seas. Belarus borders on Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine. The total length of the state border makes up 2,969 km. Geographic and climatic conditions favor the development of transport and economic relations. The main track of Eurasia as well as the shortest ways from Russia to Western Europe and from the Baltic Sea to the Black sea run through Belarus. The distance between Minsk and the capitals of neighboring states is as follows: Vilnius - 215 km, Riga - 470 km, Warsaw - 550 km, Kiev – 580 km, Moscow - 700 km. more
Source:
The currency of Belarus is the Belarusian ruble (BYR). The currency was introduced in May of 1992, replacing the Soviet ruble. The ruble was re-introduced with new values in 2000 and has been in use since. As part of the Union of Russia and Belarus, there has been discussion between both states to use a single currency along the same lines as the Euro. This has led to the suggestion for the Belarusian ruble to be discontinued in favor of the Russian ruble (RUB), starting on 1 January 2008, according to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. The banking system of Belarus is composed of thirty state owned banks and one privatized bank.
Source:
The Republic of Belarus declared its independence from the USSR on Aug. 25, 1991. The reform-minded Stanislav Shushkevich became head of state and, along with Russia and Ukraine, Belarus was one of the original signatories to the treaty establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. In early 1994 former Communists in the parliament voted to replace Shushkevich with Mechislav Grib, a former national police official; Aleksandr Lukashenko was elected to the post in July, 1994. Parliamentary elections were held during 1995, and most seats were filled by former Communists.
Source:
When Belarus gained independence in December 1991, there were 81 road-mobile SS-25s on its territory stationed at three missile bases, and an unknown number of tactical nuclear weapons. During the 1980s, a number of units equipped with intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) were ... stationed in the Belarusian SSR; however, all of these weapons were eliminated under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by 1991. In May 1992, Belarus signed the Lisbon Protocol, which obligated it to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapon state, which it did in July 1993, and to ratify the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which it ratified in February 1993. As a result of these commitments, Belarus transferred its nuclear weapons to Russia. The process of transferring tactical warheads was completed in May 1992, and the last strategic warheads and associated missiles were sent to Russia in November 1996. No nuclear forces have been stationed in Belarus since then, although the possibility of stationing Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus was broached by a number of Belarusian officials in the late 1990s.
Source:
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 Belorussian 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. During his rule, Lukashenko used Soviet-era policies, despite objections from Western powers.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
White Russia