Many western human rights groups state that civil rights and free expression are severely limited in Belarus, though there are some individuals and groups that refuse to be controlled and some journalists have disappeared.

Although there has been some American direct private investment in Belarus, its development has been relatively slow given the uncertain pace of reform.

Besides those six camps, there existed the little-known Maly Trostenets extermination camp, at Minsk, Belarus, in the anti-Communist Lokot Republic ( July 1942 – August 1943 ) established in the Nazi-occupied USSR ; similar camps existed at Warsaw and Janowska.

In Russia there is a city of Dzerzhinsk, a village of Dzerzhinsk and three other cities called Dzerzhinskiy ; in former Soviet republics, there are cities named Dzerzhinski ( Armenia ), Dzyarzhynsk ( Belarus ), and Dzerzhinsk ( Ukraine ).

East Slavs settled on the territory present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, assimilating local Baltic — ( Yotvingians, Dniepr Balts ), Ugro-Finnic ( Russia ) and steppe nomads ( Ukraine ) already living there, their early ethnic integrations contributed to the gradual differentiation of the three East Slavic nations.

Indeed there were Scots, Germans and Dutch people inhabitating major towns of the area, as well as several Italian artists who had been " imported " to the lands of modern Belarus by the magnates.

By the end of the 16th century over 100, 000 Tatars settled in Belarus and Lithuania, including those hired to government service, those who moved there voluntarily, prisoners of war, etc.

During the rule of the current administration in Belarus, there have been several cases of persecution, including the disappearance or death of prominent opposition leaders and independent journalists.

In 1928, there was virtually no settlement in the area, while Jews had deep roots in the western half of the Soviet Union, in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia proper.

At Polykovichi, an urban part of Mahilyow, there is a 350 metre tall guyed TV mast, one of the tallest structures in Belarus.

During the period of the union of the Polish – Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden under king Sigismund III Vasa ( Polish – Swedish union ), diets were held there ; and in 1594 and 1596 it was the meeting-place of two remarkable councils of the Roman-Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church bishops of the region ; the 1596 council establishing the Uniate Church ( known also as the Belarusian Greek Catholic Church in Belarus and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine ).

A source is cited as claiming that there were inertial and even GPS guidance systems illegally imported from Belarus, but these allegations have not been confirmed.

Despite the emigrations and expulsions, there were about 500, 000 Poles in Belarus in 2000 ( 5 % of the Belarus population ).

It was scheduled to travel through Grodno ( Belarus ), Lida ( Belarus ), Vilnius ( Lithuania ), Molodechno ( Belarus ), Minsk ( Belarus ), Orsha ( Belarus ) to Smolensk, and from there to the Moscow front.

At the end of 1980s, there was a minor campaign in Soviet Belarus for the creation of a separate " Polesian language " based on the dialects of Polesia launched by Belarusian philologist Mikola Shylyagovich and his associates.

According to a 1998 law of Belarus, there are three categories of urban-type settlement in the country:

To the Baltic republics and in the Soviet west ( Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldavia ), there was only a trickle of net immigration of Russians by the 1980s.

Since the beginnings of the Uniate movement, there have been periodic conflicts between the Orthodox and Uniate in Ukraine and Belarus, then under Polish rule, and later also in Transylvania ( see the Romanian Church United with Rome ).

The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus () is the executive branch of state power in Belarus, and it is appointed by the President of Belarus.

The head of the Government is the Prime Minister of Belarus, who manages the main agenda of the Government and direct the ministers.

The phone calling code for Belarus is + 375.

Belarus is a member of the Trans-European Line ( TEL ), Trans-Asia-Europe Fibre-Optic Line ( TAE ) and has access to the Trans-Siberia Line ( TSL ); three fibre-optic segments provide connectivity to Latvia, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine ; worldwide service is available to Belarus through this infrastructure ; additional analogue lines to Russia ; Intelsat, Eutelsat, and Intersputnik earth stations

They operate under a permanent threat of being closed down for violating various government regulations, such as misstating their corporate name on publications or operating out of an office not registered with the government ( in fact, this is the situation for all private enterprises in Belarus ).

Belarus is switching from an analog to digital broadcast television.

The most important of these is the daily Sovetskaya Belarussia – Belarus segodnya ( Soviet Belarus – Belarus Today ), published by the presidential administration, with a circulation of about 500, 000.

Beltelecom is the only operator licensed to provide commercial VoIP services in Belarus.

Internet access in Belarus is predominantly urban, with 60 percent of users living in the capital Minsk.

The situation is complex, however, because the relatively free Russian media is allowed to transmit television programming, sell newspapers and conduct journalistic activities in Belarus ( though some Russian journalists have been expelled by the Belarusian government ) thus giving some members of the public, typically those in large cities with many Russian residents, access to an alternative point of view in the Russian language ( nearly all Belarusians understand and most of them speak Russian ).

This article is about transport in Belarus.

Rail transport in Belarus is operated by Belarusskaya Chyhunka

The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus ( Russian: Министерство обороны Республики Беларусь, Belarusian: Мiнiстэрства абароны Рэспублікі Беларусь ) is the government organization that is charged with the duties of raising and maintaining the Armed Forces of Belarus.

The ethnic majority in Belarus are called Belarusians.

In Ukraine and Belarus they are called pampushky ().

The last of these terms derives from the name of an old Eastern Slavic tribe called the Krivichs, who used to inhabit the territory of Belarus.

In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine proms are called " Vipusknoy vecher ", which literally means " evening of graduation ".

A favorite in the anthem competition was the poem called " Young Belarus " ( Маладая Беларусь ) by Janka Kupala.

While Belarus and Russia will be able to keep their own symbols, a song called " Sovereign Union of Nations " () has been proposed as the Union's unofficial anthem.

In Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, an academic dissertation or thesis is called what can be literally translated as a " master's degree work " ( thesis ), whereas the word dissertation is reserved for doctoral theses ( Candidate of Sciences ).

This annual pilgrimage, called the Rosh Hashana kibbutz, drew thousands of Hasidim from all over Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and even Poland until 1917, when the Bolshevik Revolution forced it to continue clandestinely.

The Russian section is called the Workers Revolutionary League which is the Soviet section of the ICFI and has members in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Up until the 19th century in Russia, Belarus and Serbia, folk festivals called Jarilo were celebrated in late spring or early summer.

For the river runs through Belarus, where it is called Viliya, and runs through Lithuania, where it is called Neris.

The river is called Viliya in Belarus.

* Belaya Vezha, Belarus – the Tower of Kamyanyets ( Kamianiec ) in Brest Voblast, erroneously called White Tower

" Little ears ", variously called uszka in Poland, ushki ( ушки ) in Russia, vushka ( вушка ) in Ukraine, and vushki ( вушкі ) in Belarus, are folded ring-shaped dumplings similar in shape to Italian tortellini or Jewish kreplach.

A similar dish exists in Belarus that is called klyocki ( клёцкi ).

The political unification of the region into the state called Kievan Rus ', from which modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine trace their origins, occurred approximately a century before the adoption of Christianity in 988 and the establishment of the South Slavic Old Church Slavonic as the liturgical and literary language.

* Union of Russia and Belarus, sometimes called the United State ( Союзное государство Soyuznoye gosudarstvo )

In Belarus, common people called hornpipes zalejkas since the 11th century, while the dukes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania called them salmiejs.

That same month, seven republics ( Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan ) agreed to a new union treaty that would form a confederation called the Union of Sovereign States.

It is so called because of the Soloveitchiks ' origin in the town of Brisk, or Brest-Litovsk, located in what is now Belarus.

In May 2012, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called for her release and wanted to grant her asylum in Belarus.