Belarus

Belarus, one of former Soviet Union Republics, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe which borders Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. One third of the country is forested, and agriculture and manufacturing are pillars of the economy.

Belarusian territories were acquired by the Russian Empire in 1795 and held them until they were occupied by Germany during World War I. Belarus first declared independence on March 25, 1918, forming the Belarusian People's Republic, which lasted for about 10 months, then fell under the influence of Russia and became the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) in 1919. Belarusian SSR became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.

The final unification of the Belarusian lands in the modern borders took place in 1939 when the ethnically Belarusian lands that were a part of interwar Poland were annexed by the USSR and attached to the Soviet Belarus. The territory and its nation were devastated in the Second World War as Belarus lost about 1/3 of its population while the loss of the economy amounting to 35 times the republic's annual GDP.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus officially declared independence on August 25, 1991.