PROTEST

Association for Human Rights Defense International make the protest against repressions continued in Belarus against human rights activists - members of Association for Human Rights Defense International, journalists and supporters of opposition presidential candidates.

Belarus: Beaten-Up Protester Hospitalized In Grave Condition. 25/03/2006


Syarhei Atroshchanka, a protester brutally beaten up by police today during disband of a peaceful rally, is placed to the 4th hospital in Minsk in grave condition. Doctors refuse to give journalists and human rights activists any additional information.

Belarus: Dictatorship Based On Blood. 25/03/2006

More than 10,000 Belarusian citizens have taken to the streets on March 25 in Minsk to celebrate Freedom Day. Thousands of policemen and riot policemen were hurled against peaceful protesters, all array of special means was used: smoke-grenades, noise-making explosives and teargas. Peacefully protesting people were beaten up until they were bleeding and unconscious, many people were carried away in stretchers by doctors. One person is reportedly killed. Hundreds of people are arrested again. Special detention centers are filled to capacity with political prisoners already, and new prisoners of conscience arrive. The dictatorship has proved again that it rests only on force. Flowers and peaceful slogans were opposed by weapons.

The celebration of Freedom Day was to start at 12 noon on October Square in Minsk. But the square was cordoned off by police and riot police, and fenced by special railing. However, thousands of people managed to gather in the streets by October Square. Thousands of law-enforcers were sent to the streets: riot policemen, policemen and internal troops. Skaryna Avenue was closed to traffic completely. Part of the people was encircled near Central McDonald’s restaurant. People were jammed and choked, they were impeded by beating. Riot policemen attempted to provoke a stampede resembling tragedy in Nyamiha metro station in Minsk in 1999 with 53 causalities.

All subway crossings around October Square were blocked by police. People were standing on the both sides of the avenue and could not merge. Despite of that, people were chanting: “Long live Belarus!”, “We want Freedom!”, “Milinkevich!” National flags, flags of the EU, youth resistance movement Zubr and flags with the icon of Our Lady of Minsk were waving.

Force was applied against peaceful demonstrators: they were harshly pushed away from the avenue and clubbed. An American journalist was cruelly beaten up. A riot policemen delivered several blows with the truncheon on his head. The name of the reporter and his fate are to be cleared up. During the disband sirens were producing huge amount of noise for psychological pressure.

After several futile attempts to come to Skaryna Avenue, columns of people moved along Nyamiha Avenue and Bahdanovich Avenue to Yanka Kupala Park, where the single candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich arrived. Columns of people from different parts of the city under national flags marched and chanted in unison: “Freedom!”

About 10,000 protesters gathered in the park of Yanka Kupala. The leader of the Belarusian opposition Alyaksandr Milinkevich took the floor. He demanded the authorities to hold free presidential elections. We need truth, the authorities fear the truth, the politician said. Alyaksandr Milinkevich has announced that the Belarusian National Liberation Movement is created. As he said, the elections have showed that there are more supporters of democratic changes than members of the united democratic forces coalition. “We would like to invite them to join the movement,” the politician said.

Well-known politicians, writers, public figures addressed the meeting in Yanka Kupala Park. The candidate for presidency, former BSU rector Alyaksandr Kazulin, called upon the protesters to go to the special detention center in Akrestsin Street after the meeting, to “demand release of the new heroes of Belarus”. A. Kazulin also urged everybody to forget all our particular wrongs. “Only together, shoulder to shoulder, we shall win, - he said. - We should not leave anybody outside our new movement”.

He confirmed the information on the detention of well-known journalist Pavel Sheremet. “Independent journalists terrify the powers. Today we know the principal criminal - people with epaulets. They deem they can keep the power with bayonets. You can use your weapon against yourselves… The Belarusian nation has no fear anymore,” - A.Kazulin said. He added the oppositional candidates for the President’s post had applied to the UN Security Council concerning the situation in Belarus.

The rally participants scanned “Long Live Belarus!”, “Freedom!”, “Milinkevich!”. Expressing their solidarity with the defenders of the tent camp of the Kastrychnitskaya Square, the demonstrators scanned “Glory For Heroes!”. Polish Seim deputy Malgorzata Goszewska said all the students expelled because of the peaceful protest manifestation could continue their education in Poland.

After the meeting, the 10-thousand column of demonstrators headed for the special distribution center in Akrestsina Street, scanning “Glory For Heroes!” and “Freedom For Political Prisoners!”. The peaceful demonstration was halted by cordons of the OMON, anti-terrorist commandos and interior troops who blocked the traffic near the Maskouski district administration. The Special Forces officers attacked the peaceful demonstrators, who were walking with flowers and balloons, with brutal ferocity. Special Forces commander Zmitser Paulichenka, suspected by the world community of murders and kidnapping of oppositional leaders, was the one to give orders to kill the people.
All possible means were used against the demonstrators - gas pots, noise shells, tear-gas. The grenades were exploding right above the people’s heads. Bleeding demonstrators were carried away in stretchers. The majority had their heads crushed. Special Forces officers finished what the grenades hadn’t done. They assaulted the people, dragged them by hair and swiped with clubs the people’s heads, backs, legs. The girls were beaten with fists into faces.

The beaten and bleeding people were then loaded to vehicles and driven in unknown direction. According to the recent data, the people are being transported to Uruchcha district, where the Special Forces base is located.

We shall remind that KGB head Sukharenka mentioned some provocation and explosions prepared for the time of mass actions. Today his words have become clear. The provocations and explosions were organized by the national security themselves. The police could not cope with the peaceful demonstration. The people proved to be stronger.

The member of Association for Human Rights Defense International, Mikhail Vouchak was detained on March 12 on one of the streets in Minsk. He was brutally beaten up during the detention, his finger broken. He was taken to an Emergency hospital from the court, however was denied hospitalization. March 13 the Court of Maskouski District of Minsk pronounced judgement of 12 days of administrative arrest on false charges relation violation of the Article 156 of the Administrative Code (petty hooliganism).

On March 12 in Minsk during the meeting with the presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich more than 10 citizens of Belarus and 6 citizens of Ukraine, includes journalists of 5 Channel (Ukraine), were detained. (1Mb Audio). (26 Mb Video).

More 1000 citizens arrested during last 8 weeks for their public activity. Arrests of democracy activists continues in Belarus right now.

 

Àppeal of the Academician Aleksandr Voitovich to Belarus' electorate
(128 Mb Video).

U.S. May Consider New Belarus Sanctions
17:12, 18/03/2006, By Peter Baker, Washington Post Staff Writer


The White House accused the authoritarian president of Belarus yesterday of being "among the most corrupt leaders in the world," and administration officials said they will consider new sanctions assuming tomorrow`s elections are manipulated as expected.

In a report sent to Congress on Thursday night and posted on the Web yesterday, the White House alleged that President Alexander Lukashenko "has created a repressive dictatorship on the doorstep of the European Union," sold arms to rogue states and enriched himself at the expense of his people.

The release of the report just two days before presidential elections in the former Soviet republic was intended as a sharp repudiation of a man often called Europe`s last dictator amid a pre-vote crackdown on dissent. Authorities in Belarus, where the KGB retains its Soviet name, have shut down newspapers, raided civil society organizations, stifled anti-government rallies, and beaten and arrested opposition figures, including a candidate running against Lukashenko.

"We are very concerned about the behavior of the leaders in Belarus," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday. "They are not pursuing a democratic course."

In separate interviews, two other administration officials who were not authorized to speak on the record said the U.S. government is studying ways of applying more sanctions against Lukashenko`s regime, targeted specifically against him and his cronies. The United States has already imposed travel restrictions on some high-level Belarusan officials.

Assuming the elections are not deemed free and fair, the administration would consider working with European governments to go after the assets of Lukashenko and his circle, the officials said. "This is something that people at the highest level feel strongly about," said one of the officials. The other said, "It`s unacceptable that there`s a dictator and a tyrant on the border of NATO and the E.U."

Although Belarus is a small country with 10 million people and little strategic importance, Bush has taken a personal interest as part of his vow to spread democracy. On Feb. 27, he invited to the Oval Office two Belarusan women, Irina Krasovskaya and Svetlana Zavadskaya, who have become important opposition symbols since their husbands disappeared. In the national security strategy he unveiled this week, Bush included Belarus among seven countries deemed "despotic systems."

The new report, drafted in response to the Belarus Democracy Act passed by Congress in 2004, alleges that Belarus sold arms, military equipment and dual-use items to countries such as Iran and Sudan. The money goes into secret funds controlled by Lukashenko, according to the report.

The report says that Lukashenko controls a presidential fund with more than $100 million and quotes him once bragging that it really has $1 billion. "The precise extent of corruption is difficult to determine because of the regime`s lack of transparency and the blurring of personal and state property," the report says. Lukashenko gave the U.S. embassy a document reporting his annual income as $16,596.

Much of the information about his finances comes from public statements by Tamara Vinnikova, a former head of the national bank who fled Belarus in 1999. A classified version of the report has other authentication, sources said.

"This gives a very clear picture of this monstrous regime," said Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), who sponsored the Belarus Democracy Act. "We`re not going to give up. As we`ve seen with every thief and dictator over time -- remember Nicolae Ceausescu? -- there`s a long list of people who are no longer there to torture and abuse their people." Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator, was executed in a popular uprising in 1989.

Belarusan Ambassador Mikhail Khvostov complained that the White House report was filled with "false allegations" and "black PR." Khvostov said Belarus does not hide its arms sales but complies with U.N. regulations. And he said Lukashenko does not use the presidential fund for personal purposes but instead to fund arts and sports.

"In my view, this action on the eve of the election is an attempt of a black intervention into the internal affairs of another country," Khvostov said. "This administration does not like President Lukashenko to win this election."

Belarus warned about repercussions for crackdown on opposition

Washington, DC (March 14, 2006) - Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) condemned today’s arrests of supporters and aides of opposition presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich and yesterday’s sentencing of numerous Belarusian and Ukrainian activists to up to 15 days in prison. This comes on the heels of last week’s repressive measures against Milinkevich campaign assistants, including the sentencing to 15 days imprisonment of Belarus Popular Front Chairman Vintsuk Viachorka.

“These latest arrests follow a disturbing pattern, where activists – including senior campaign officials – are prevented from working actively on behalf of their candidates in the final days of the campaign,” said Chairman Brownback. “Authorities who engage in attempts at intimidation, electoral abuse or violence will face repercussions from the international community,” he continued.

“Mr. Lukashenka has continued to engender a climate of fear, while at the same time expressing confidence in his victory. I ask Mr. Lukashenka to stop the bullying and to give the people of Belarus a chance to freely determine their own destiny,” stated Chairman Brownback.

Brownback also criticized Russia for its apparent complicity in forcing the very few remaining independent newspapers in Belarus to suspend operations as of yesterday. These media outlets learned that the Russian printing house they relied upon, for vague economic and political reasons, will no longer produce their editions for distribution in Belarus. “Clearly the Russian leadership is squarely behind Europe’s last dictator as he intensifies his crackdown in the final days of the campaign,” said Brownback.

“These latest arrests are without a doubt part of a pattern of intimidation and suppression of independent voices, which has escalated as election day approaches” said Co-Chairman Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ). “Moreover, the detention of non-partisan election observers and the beatings and detention of opposition candidate Aleksandr Kozulin and his supporters as well as journalists, cast serious doubt as to whether this Sunday’s election can be in any way considered to be free and fair.”

“The searches, confiscations, beatings, arrests and imprisonments harken back to Soviet times, underscoring the weakness of the regime. Such actions indicate the contempt for freely undertaken OSCE commitments, and stand in glaring contrast to the growing reality of a democratic and free Europe,” noted Co-Chairman Smith.

A transcript of the Helsinki Commission’s March 9 hearing “Freedom Denied: Belarus on the Eve of the Election,” is available on the Commission’s website: www.csce.gov

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency that monitors progress in the implementation of the provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. The Commission consists of nine members of the United States Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.

 

Belarus
Flag of Belarus
Map of Belarus
Introduction Belarus
Background:
 After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union on 8 December 1999 envisioning greater political and economic integration. Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place.
Geography Belarus
Location:
 Eastern Europe, east of Poland
Geographic coordinates:
 53 00 N, 28 00 E
Map references:
 Europe
Area:
 total: 207,600 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km
Area - comparative:
 slightly smaller than Kansas
Land boundaries:
 total: 2,900 km
border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km
Coastline:
 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
 none (landlocked)
Climate:
 cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime
Terrain:
 generally flat and contains much marshland
Elevation extremes:
 lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m
Natural resources:
 forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay
Land use:
 arable land: 29.76%
permanent crops: 0.69%
other: 69.55% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
 1,150 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
 NA
Environment - current issues:
 soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine
Environment - international agreements:
 party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
Geography - note:
 landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes; the country is geologically well endowed with extensive deposits of granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay
People Belarus
Population:
 10,335,382 (July 2002 est.)
Age structure:
 0-14 years: 17.3% (male 914,579; female 876,346)
15-64 years: 68.6% (male 3,443,859; female 3,643,628)
65 years and over: 14.1% (male 482,624; female 974,346) (2002 est.)
Population growth rate:
 -0.14% (2002 est.)
Birth rate:
 9.86 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Death rate:
 13.99 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Net migration rate:
 2.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)
Sex ratio:
 at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.5 male(s)/female
total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (2002 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
 14.12 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
 total population: 68.28 years
female: 74.56 years (2002 est.)
male: 62.3 years
Total fertility rate:
 1.31 children born/woman (2002 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
 0.28% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
 14,000 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
 400 (1999 est.)
Nationality:
 noun: Belarusian(s)
adjective: Belarusian
Ethnic groups:
 Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish, Ukrainian, and other 7.4%
Religions:
 Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)
Languages:
 Belarusian, Russian, other
Literacy:
 definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97% (1989 est.)
Government Belarus
Country name:
 conventional long form: Republic of Belarus
conventional short form: Belarus
local short form: none
former: Belorussian (Byelorussian) Soviet Socialist Republic
local long form: Respublika Byelarus'
Government type:
 republic
Capital:
 Minsk
Administrative divisions:
 6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality* (harady, singular - horad); Brestskaya (Brest), Homyel'skaya (Homyel'), Horad Minsk*, Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna), Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow), Minskaya, Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk); note - when using a place name with the adjectival ending 'skaya' the word voblasts' should be added to the place name
note: voblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses
Independence:
 25 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
National holiday:
 Independence Day, 3 July (1944); note - 3 July 1944 was the date Minsk was liberated from German troops, 25 August 1991 was the date of independence from the Soviet Union
Constitution:
 30 March 1994; revised by national referendum of 24 November 1996 giving the presidency greatly expanded powers and became effective 27 November 1996
Legal system:
 based on civil law system
Suffrage:
 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
 chief of state: President Aleksandr LUKASHENKO (since 20 July 1994)
head of government: Prime Minister Gennadiy NOVITSKIY (since 1 October 2001); Deputy Prime Ministers Andrei KOBYAKOV (since 13 March 2000), Aleksandr POPKOV (since 10 November 1998), Sergei SIDORSKY (since NA September 2001), Vladimir DRAZHIN (since NA September 2001)
cabinet: Council of Ministers
election results: Aleksandr LUKASHENKO reelected president; percent of vote - Aleksandr LUKASHENKO 75.6%, Vladimir GONCHARIK 15.4%
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 LUKASHENKO extended his term to 2001 via a November 1996 referendum; new election held 9 September 2001 (next election to be held by September 2006); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president
Legislative branch:
 bicameral Parliament or Natsionalnoye Sobranie consists of the Council of the Republic or Soviet Respubliki (64 seats; 56 members elected by regional councils and 8 members appointed by the president, all for 4-year terms) and the Chamber of Representatives or Palata Pretsaviteley (110 seats; members elected by universal adult suffrage to serve 4-year terms)
election results: party affiliation data unavailable; under present political conditions party designations are meaningless
elections: last held October 2000 (next to be held NA 2004)
Judicial branch:
 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)
Political parties and leaders:
 Agrarian Party or AP [Mikhail SHIMANSKY]; Belarusian Communist Party or KPB [Viktor CHIKIN, chairman]; Belarusian Ecological Green Party (merger of Belarusian Ecological Party and Green Party of Belarus) [leader NA]; Belarusian Patriotic Movement (Belarusian Patriotic Party) or BPR [Anatoliy BARANKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Popular Front or BNF [Vintsuk VYACHORKA]; Belarusian Social-Democrat Party or SDBP [Nikolay STATKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Social-Democratic Party or Hromada [Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairman]; Belarusian Socialist Party [Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV]; Civic Accord Bloc (United Civic Party) or CAB [Anatol LIABEDZKA]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDPB [Sergei GAYDUKEVICH, chairman]; Party of Communists Belarusian or PKB [Sergei KALYAKIN, chairman]; Republican Party of Labor and Justice or RPPS [Anatoliy NETYLKIN, chairman]; Social-Democrat Party of Popular Accord or PPA [Leanid SECHKA]; Women's Party or "Nadezhda" [Valentina POLEVIKOVA, chairperson]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
 NA
International organization participation:
 CCC, CEI, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NAM, NSG, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US:
 chief of mission: Ambassador Valeriy V. TSEPAKLO
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
consulate(s) general: New York
FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805
telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604
Diplomatic representation from the US:
 chief of mission: Ambassador Michael G. KOZAK
embassy: 46 Starovilenskaya St., Minsk 220002
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [375] (17) 210-12-83
FAX: [375] (17) 234-7853
Flag description:
 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 the Belarusian national ornament in red
Economy Belarus
Economy - overview:
 Belarus has seen little structural reform since 1995, when President LUKASHENKO launched the country on the path of "market socialism." In keeping with this policy, LUKASHENKO reimposed administrative controls over prices and currency exchange rates and expanded the state's right to intervene in the management of private enterprise. In addition to the burdens imposed by high inflation and persistent trade deficits, businesses have been subject to pressure on the part of central and local governments, e.g., arbitrary changes in regulations, numerous rigorous inspections, retroactive application of new business regulations, and arrests of "disruptive" businessmen and factory owners. Close relations with Russia, possibly leading to reunion, color the pattern of economic developments. For the time being, Belarus remains self-isolated from the West and its open-market economies.
GDP:
 purchasing power parity - $84.8 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
 4.1% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita:
 purchasing power parity - $8,200 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
 agriculture: 13%
industry: 42%
services: 45% (2000)
Population below poverty line:
 22% (1995 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
 lowest 10%: 5%
highest 10%: 20% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
 22 (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
 46.1% (2001 est.)
Labor force:
 4.8 million (2000)
Labor force - by occupation:
 industry and construction NA%, agriculture and forestry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate:
 2.1% officially registered unemployed (December 2000); large number of underemployed workers
Budget:
 revenues: $4 billion
expenditures: $4.1 billion, including capital expenditures of $180 million (1997 est.)
Industries:
 metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, television sets, chemical fibers, fertilizer, textiles, radios, refrigerators
Industrial production growth rate:
 5.4% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production:
 24.66 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - production by source:
 fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
 26.78 billion kWh (2000)
Electricity - exports:
 300 million kWh (2000)
Electricity - imports:
 4.15 billion kWh (2000)
Agriculture - products:
 grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax; beef, milk
Exports:
 $7.5 billion f.o.b. (2001)
Exports - commodities:
 machinery and equipment, mineral products, chemicals, textiles, foodstuffs, metals
Exports - partners:
 Russia 51%, Ukraine 8%, Poland 4%, Germany 3% (2000)
Imports:
 $8.1 billion f.o.b. (2001)
Imports - commodities:
 mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, metals
Imports - partners:
 Russia 65%, Germany 7%, Poland 3% (2000)
Debt - external:
 $770 million (2001 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
 $194.3 million (1995) (1995)
Currency:
 Belarusian ruble (BYB/BYR)
Currency code:
 BYB/BYR
Exchange rates:
 Belarusian rubles per US dollar - 1,590 (yearend 2001), 1,531.000 (November 2001), 876.750 (2000), 248.795 (1999), 46.127 (1998), 26.020 (1997); note - on 1 January 2000, the national currency was redenominated at one new ruble to 2,000 old rubles
Fiscal year:
 calendar year
Communications Belarus
Telephones - main lines in use:
 2.313 million (1997)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
 8,167 (1997)
Telephone system:
 general assessment: the Ministry of Telecommunications controls all telecommunications through its carrier (a joint stock company) Beltelcom which is a monopoly
domestic: local - Minsk has a digital metropolitan network and a cellular NMT-450 network; waiting lists for telephones are long; local service outside Minsk is neglected and poor; intercity - Belarus has a partly developed fiber-optic backbone system presently serving at least 13 major cities (1998); Belarus's fiber optics form synchronous digital hierarchy rings through other countries' systems; an inadequate analog system remains operational
international: 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); three 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
Radio broadcast stations:
 AM 28, FM 37, shortwave 11 (1998)
Radios:
 3.02 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
 47 (plus 27 repeaters) (1995)
Televisions:
 2.52 million (1997)
Internet country code:
 .by
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
 23 (2002)
Internet users:
 422,000 (2002)
Transportation Belarus
Railways:
 total: 5,523 km
broad gauge: 5,523 km 1.520-m gauge (875 km electrified) (2000 est.)
Highways:
 total: 98,200 km
paved: 66,100 km (includes some all-weather gravel-surfaced roads)
unpaved: 32,100 km (these roads are made of unstabilized earth and are difficult to negotiate in wet weather) (1990)
Waterways:
 NA km; note - Belarus has extensive and widely used canal and river systems
Pipelines:
 crude oil 1,470 km; refined products 1,100 km; natural gas 1,980 km (1992)
Ports and harbors:
 Mazyr
Airports:
 136 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways:
 total: 33
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 19
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
under 914 m: 11 (2002)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
 total: 103
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 10
1,524 to 2,437 m: 11
914 to 1,523 m: 14
under 914 m: 65 (2002)
Military Belarus
Military branches:
 Army, Air Force (including air defense), Interior Ministry Troops, Border Guards
Military manpower - military age:
 18 years of age (2002 est.)
Military manpower - availability:
 males age 15-49: 2,744,267 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
 males age 15-49: 2,149,873 (2002 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
 males: 86,396 (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
 $156 million (FY98)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
 1% (FY01)
Transnational Issues Belarus
Disputes - international:
 boundary demarcation with Latvia and Lithuania is pending European Union funding
Illicit drugs:
 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; lax money-laundering and banking regulations

Source:
The World Factbook 2002
Last Updated: 19 March 2003

 

 

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