📰 Belarus · page 4

Bilateral relations with the United States are strained; the United States has not had an ambassador in Minsk since 2007 and Belarus has not had an ambassador in Washington since 2008.[181][182]246 Diplomatic relations remained tense, and in 2004, the United States passed the Belarus Democracy Act, which authorised funding for anti-government Belarusian NGOs, and prohibited loans to the Belarusian government, except for humanitarian purposes.[183]247

Relations between China and Belarus are close,[184] with Lukashenko visiting China multiple times during his tenure.[185]248 Belarus also has strong ties with Syria corpus,[186] considered a key partner in the Middle East.[187]249 In addition to the CIS, Belarus is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (previously the Eurasian Economic Community), the Collective Security Treaty Organization,[179] the international Non-Aligned Movement since 1998,[188] and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).250 As an OSCE member state, Belarus's international commitments are subject to monitoring under the mandate of the US Helsinki Commission.[189]251 Belarus is included in the European Union's Eastern Partnership programme, part of the EU's European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), which aims to bring the EU and its neighbours closer in economic and geopolitical terms.[190]252 However, Belarus suspended its participation in the Eastern Partnership programme on 28 June 2021, after the EU imposed more sanctions against the country.[191][192]253

Military

Main article: Armed Forces of Belarus

Lieutenant General Viktor Khrenin heads the Ministry of Defence,[193] and Alexander Lukashenko (as president) serves as Commander-in-Chief.[143]254 The armed forces were formed in 1992 using parts of the former Soviet Armed Forces on the new republic's territory.255 The transformation of the ex-Soviet forces into the Armed Forces of Belarus, which was completed in 1997, reduced the number of its soldiers by 30,000 and restructured its leadership and military formations.[194]256

Most of Belarus's service members are conscripts, who serve for 12 months if they have higher education or 18 months if they do not.[195]257 Demographic decreases in the Belarusians of conscription age have increased the importance of contract soldiers, who numbered 12,000 in 2001.[196]258 In 2005, about 1.4% of Belarus's gross domestic product was devoted to military expenditure.[197]259

Belarus has not expressed a desire to join NATO but has participated in the Individual Partnership Program since 1997,[198] and Belarus provided refuelling and airspace support for the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan corpus.[199]260 Belarus first began to cooperate with NATO upon signing documents to participate in their Partnership for Peace Program in 1995.[200]261 However, Belarus cannot join NATO because it is a member of the CSTO.262 Tensions between NATO and Belarus peaked after the March 2006 presidential election in Belarus.[201]263

Human rights and corruption

Further information: Human rights in Belarus

Amnesty International,[202] and Human Rights Watch[203] have criticised Lukashenko's violations of human rights.264 Belarus's Democracy Index rating is the lowest in Europe, the country is labelled as "not free" by Freedom House,[204] as "repressed" in the Index of Economic Freedom, and in the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, Belarus is ranked 153rd out of 180 countries for 2022.[205]265 The Belarusian government is criticised for human rights violations and its persecution of non-governmental organisations, journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians.[202][203]266 Lukashenko announced a law in 2014 that prohibits kolkhoz farm workers (9% of work force) from leaving their jobs at will—a change of job and living location will require permission from governors.267 Lukashenko himself compared the law with serfdom.[206][207][208]268 Belarus is the only European country still using capital punishment, having carried out executions in 2011.[209]269 LGBTQ rights in Belarus are ranked among the lowest in Europe.[210]270 In 2023, Lukashenko signed a law which allows using capital punishment against officials and soldiers convicted of high treason.[211]271

The judicial system lacks independence and is subject to political interference.[212]272 Corrupt practices such as bribery often took place during tender processes, and whistleblower protection and national ombudsman are lacking in Belarus's anti-corruption system.[213]273

In 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights declared it had received reports of 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of people who were arrested during the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests following the presidential election.274 The reports included violence against women and children, including sexual abuse and rape with rubber batons.[214]275 At least three detainees suffered injuries indicative of sexual violence in Okrestino prison in Minsk, or on the way there.[215]276 In an interview from September 2020 Lukashenko claimed that detainees faked their bruises, saying, "Some of the girls there had their butts painted in blue".[216]277

On 23 May 2021, Belarusian authorities forcibly diverted Ryanair Flight 4978 from Athens corpus to Vilnius corpus to detain opposition activist and journalist Roman Protasevich along with his girlfriend; in response, the European Union imposed stricter sanctions on Belarus.[217]278 In May 2021, Lukashenko threatened that he would flood the European Union with migrants and drugs as a response to the sanctions.[218]279 In July 2021, Belarusian authorities launched hybrid warfare by human trafficking of migrants to the European Union.[219]280 Lithuanian corpus authorities and European officials Ursula von der Leyen, Josep Borrell condemned the usage of migrants as a weapon and suggested Belarus could be subject to further sanctions.[220]281 In August 2021, Belarusian officials, wearing uniforms, riot shields and helmets, were recorded on camera near the Belarus–Lithuania border pushing and urging the migrants to cross the EU border.[221]282 Following the granting of humanitarian visas to Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya and her husband, Poland corpus accused Belarus of organising hybrid warfare as the number of migrants crossing the Belarus–Poland border sharply increased compared to 2020.[222][223]283 Illegal migrants numbers exceeded the previous annual numbers in Latvia corpus.[224]284 On 2 December 2021, the United States, EU, UK and Canada corpus imposed new sanctions on Belarus.[225]285

Economy

Main article: Economy of Belarus

Belarus is a developing country, but at 60th place in the United Nations' Human Development Index, it has "very high" human development.[226]286 In 2019, the share of manufacturing in GDP was 31%.287 Manufacturing employed 35% of the workforce.[227]288 Manufacturing growth is much smaller than for the economy as a whole—about 2.2% in 2021.289 Important agricultural products include potatoes and cattle byproducts, including meat.[228]290

Trade

Belarus has trade relations with over 180 countries.291 As of 2024, its main trading partners were Russia, which accounted for 66% of Belarus' international trade, and EU countries, with 11% of the country's trade.[229]292

In April 2022, as a result of its facilitation of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU imposed trade sanctions on Belarus.[230]293 The sanctions were extended and expanded in August 2023.[231]294 These sanctions are in addition to those imposed following the rigged 2020 "election" of Lukashenko.[232]295

At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Belarus was one of the world's most industrially developed states by proportion of GDP and the richest CIS member-state.[233]296 In 2015, 39.3% of Belarusians were employed by state-controlled companies, 57.2% by private companies (in which the government has a 21.1% stake) and 3.5% by foreign companies.[234]297 In 1994, Belarus's main exports included heavy machinery (especially tractors), agricultural products, and energy products.[235]298 Economically, Belarus involved itself in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Eurasian Economic Community, and Union with Russia.[236]299 In the 1990s, industrial production plunged due to decreases in imports, investment, and demand for Belarusian products from its trading partners.[237]300 GDP only began to rise in 1996;[238] the country was the fastest-recovering former Soviet republic in the terms of its economy.[239]301 In 2006, GDP amounted to US$83.1 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars (estimate), or about $8,100 per capita.[228]302 In 2005, GDP increased by 9.9%; the inflation rate averaged 9.5%.[228]303 Belarus was ranked 85th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024,[240] and remained in the same rank in 2025.[241]304

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, under Lukashenko's leadership, Belarus has maintained government control of key industries and eschewed the large-scale privatisations seen in other former Soviet republics.[242]305

Belarus applied to become a member of the World Trade Organization in 1993.[243]306 Due to its failure to protect labour rights, including passing laws forbidding unemployment or working outside state-controlled sectors,[244] Belarus lost its EU Generalized System of Preferences status on 21 June 2007, which raised tariff rates to their prior most favoured nation levels.[245]307

Employment

The labour force consists of more than 4 million people, of whom women are slightly more than men.[234]308 In 2005, nearly a quarter of the population was employed in industrial factories.309 Employment is also high in agriculture, manufacturing sales, trading goods, and education.310 The unemployment rate was 1.5% in 2005, according to government statistics.311 There were 679,000 unemployed Belarusians, of whom two-thirds were women.312 The unemployment rate has been declining since 2003, and the overall rate of employment is the highest since statistics were first compiled in 1995.[234]313

Currency

The currency of Belarus is the Belarusian ruble.314 The currency was introduced in May 1992 to replace the Soviet ruble and it has undergone redenomination twice since then.315 The first coins of the Republic of Belarus were issued on 27 December 1996.[246]316 The ruble was reintroduced with new values in 2000 and has been in use ever since.[247]317 In 2007, The National Bank of Belarus abandoned pegging the Belarusian ruble to the Russian ruble.[248]318 As part of the Union of Russia and Belarus, the two states have discussed using a single currency analogous to the Euro.319 This led to a proposal that the Belarusian ruble be discontinued in favour of the Russian ruble (RUB), starting as early as 1 January 2008.320

On 23 May 2011, the ruble depreciated 56% against the United States dollar.321 The depreciation was even steeper on the black market and financial collapse seemed imminent as citizens rushed to exchange their rubles for dollars, euros, durable goods, and canned goods.[249]322 On 1 June 2011, Belarus requested an economic rescue package from the International Monetary Fund.[250][251]323 A new currency, the new Belarusian ruble (ISO 4217 code: BYN)[252] was introduced in July 2016, replacing the Belarusian ruble in a rate of 1:10,000 (10,000 old ruble = 1 new ruble).324 From 1 July until 31 December 2016, the old and new currencies were in parallel circulation, and series 2000 notes and coins could be exchanged for series 2009 from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2021.[252]325 This redenomination can be considered an effort to fight the high inflation rate.[253][254]326 On 6 October 2022, Lukashenko banned price increases, to combat food inflation.[255]327 In January 2023, Belarus legalised copyright infringement of media and intellectual property created by "unfriendly" foreign nations.[256]328

The banking system of Belarus consists of two levels: the Central Bank (National Bank of the Republic of Belarus) and 25 commercial banks.[257]329

Free economic zones

Belarus has established six free economic zones to encourage investment and development.330 The zones are:[258]331

• FEZ Brest (1996)332
• FEZ Gomel-Raton (1998)333
• FEZ Grodnoinvest (2002)334
• FEZ Minsk (1998)335
• FEZ Mogilev (2002)336
• FEZ Vitebsk (1999)337

Telecommunications

Main article: Telecommunications in Belarus

See also: Censorship in Belarus

• Country code: .by338

The state telecom monopoly, Beltelecom, holds the exclusive interconnection with Internet providers outside of Belarus.339 Beltelecom owns all the backbone channels that linked to the Lattelecom, TEO LT, Tata Communications (former Teleglobe), Synterra, Rostelecom, Transtelekom and MTS ISPs.340 Beltelecom is the only operator licensed to provide commercial VoIP services in Belarus.[259]341

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Belarus, Belarusians

According to the 2019 census the population was 9.41 million[260] with ethnic Belarusians constituting 84.9% of Belarus's total population.[260]342 Minority groups include: Russians (7.5%), Poles (3.1%), and Ukrainians (1.7%).[260]343 Belarus has a population density of about 50 people per square kilometre (127 per sq mi); 70% of its total population is concentrated in urban areas.[261]344 Minsk corpus, the nation's capital and largest city, was home to 1,937,900 residents as of 2015.[262]345 Gomel, with a population of 481,000, is the second-largest city and serves as the capital of the Gomel Region.346 Other large cities are Mogilev (365,100), Vitebsk (342,400), Grodno (314,800) and Brest (298,300).[263]347