Belarus?

 

Belarus in Europe

   Belarus is a country located in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the east, Ukraine to the south, Poland and Lithuania to the East, and Latvia to the north. The population of Belarus is 9.4 million, a decrease from its peak in 1991 of 10.2 million. The language spoken as a native language by the largest number of people in the country is Belarusian, followed closely by Russian. Russian, however, is overall more commonly used both at home and in public. Because of this dichotomy with regards to languages, there is no single agreed upon transcription of names from the Cyrillic alphabet to Latin alphabets caused by the differences in Russian and Belarusian. The name of the country is one of the words that are written the same in both languages, Беларусь. The name of the country comes from earlier Белая Русь, meaning White Rus. Due to the widespread use of Russian compared to Belarusian, names of Belarusians are typically transcribed with the Russian system. 

Александр Лукашенко

Alexander Lukashenko

    In 1991, Belarus gained its independence from the Soviet Union following its collapse. Ever since its independence, Belarus has been headed by Alexander Lukashenko as president. Since the establishment of the bicameral National Assembly, Lukashenko's supporters have held the majority without real opposition. Regardless of the composition of the legislature, the real power in Belarus rests in the hands of the president. The president has control over government budgets and presidential orders take precedent over what is passed by the National Assembly. Because of the power of the president and Lukashenko's six terms as president, Belarus has been called "Europe's last dictatorship" and Lukashenko "Europe's last dictator." This system, though never truly popular, began to be more actively criticized with the treatment of COVID-19 in Belarus and the belief in widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

Flag of the Government of Belarus

Flag of the Belarusian Democracy Movement

Adamovich, Anthony, French, Richard A., Rostovtsev, Mikhail I. and Marples, David R.. 

     "Belarus." Encyclopedia Britannica. May 27, 2021. Accessed October 17, 2021. 

     https://www.britannica.com/place/Belarus.

World Population Review. "Belarus Population." World Population Review. October 17, 2021. 

     Accessed October 17, 2021.

     https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/belarus-population.

Encyclopedia Britannica. "Belarus." Encyclopedia Britannica. May 27, 2021. Accessed 

     October 17, 2021.

     https://www.britannica.com/place/Belarus#/media/1/59081/208458.

Wikipedia Commons. "Alexander Lukashenko (2020-09-03) 01(cropped)." September 16, 

     2021. Accessed October 17, 2021.

     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander_Lukashenko_(2020-09-03)_01(cropped).jpg.

Wikipedia Commons. "Flag of Belarus." Wikipedia Commons. August 26, 2019. Accessed

     October 17, 2021.

     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Belarus.svg.

Wikipedia Commons. "Flag of Belarus (1918, 1991–1995)." Wikipedia Commons. August 

     17, 2021. Accessed October 17, 2021.

     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Belarus_(1918,_1991%E2%80%931995).svg.