The Republic of Belarus is a small, beautiful country with the heroic past and difficult present. It is situated in Eastern Europe. The Republic borders on Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. It has an area of 207,600 square kilometers and a population of more than 10 million. 77 percent of the population constitute Belarusians, 64 percent live in cities, the largest of which are Minsk (the capital), Gomel, Brest, Vitebsk, Grodno and Mogilev.

The climate in the republic is moderately continental, the breathing of the Baltic sea is constantly felt here.

At the beginning of the 20^th century Belarus was a backward province of the Russian Empire - called the North-Western region. About 80 percent of its population were illiterate. The Belarusians were not even regarded as a nation at that time. After the Revolution in 1917 Belarus Was proclaimed the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and soon became a member of the USSR.

During World War II Belarus suffered greatly. It lost more than half of its national wealth. The fascists killed every fourth person living there. But despite all this, Belarus has restored its cities, rebuilt its economy. Today Belarusian industry produces tractors, big lorries, automatic lines, computers, refrigerators, television sets, bicycles, watches, fertilizers and textiles.

Agriculture specializes in milk and meat production. The main crops cultivate here are potatoes, flax, grain, herbs and vegetables.

Belarus is a republic of well developed science and culture. There are 37 state higher educational establishments, the Academy of Sciences, about 400 professional schools. Secondary education is compulsory and free of charge in this country.

Nowadays the Republic of Belarus has become a sovereign independent state. The Declaration of State Sovereignty was adopted by its Supreme Soviet on July 27, 1990.

Text 2: Belarus

Area: The area of Belarus is 207,600 sq. Km. Measured by its territory, Belarus ranks 13^th among the states of Europe.

Population: 10.3million. Two-Thirds of Belarus’ population live in cities.

Of the Republic’s total population, 78% are Belarusians, 13% Russians, 4% Poles, 3% Ukrainians, 1% Jews and 1% others. The average family is 3.2 persons, the average life-span is 71 years (men - 66, women - 76). By population, Belarus ranks 14^th in Europe.

Language and religion: Belarusians speak their own language, which is closely related to Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and other modern Slavic languages. The Belarusian language is the official language of the Republic of Belarus as well as the Russian one.

The large majority of Belarusians, about two-thirds, belong to the Eastern Orthodox religion. Of the balance, 20% are Roman Catholic, and the remainder represent various Protestant groups, Jews and Muslims.

Location: Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered to the north and east by Russia, to the south by Ukraine, to the west by Poland, and to the northwest by Lithuania and Latvia. Important land air routes pass through the Republic, as well as communication lines connecting the west and east, north and south of the European continent.

Major cities: Minsk, the capital of Belarus, has about two million inhabitants. Minsk is also the coordinating center of the commonwealth of independent States (C. I. S.). the largest cities in Belarus are Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, and Mogilev, in which the administrative centers of the Republic are located.

Resources: Belarus was long through to be poor in mineral resources. Recent researches of Radzim Harecki, an academician and the director of the Institute of Geochemistry and Geophysics of the Belarusian Academy of Science, denies this characterization. He says that intensive prospecting has revealed many minerals, and notably high-quality petroleum, with large reserves located in the southeastern part of Belarus. In the western and central regions there are peat deposits. The Prypiac Marshes contain coal, brown coal and combustible shale. Potassium-salt deposits are the second largest in Europe. Other deposits include limestone, dolomite, marl, and sand. There are also phosphate, ferrous and nonferrous metal reserves.

Work Force: About 5 million persons are employed: 3.6 million (72%) by the government, 100,000 (2%) in the private sector, the rest on collective farms and other activities; 50,000 (1%) were registrated as unemployed. The number of private sector workers is growing while the number employed in the state economy declines. Every eight person in the work force has higher education. The number of scientists and college teachers exceeds 75,000, among them more than 10,000 with doctoral degree or candidate status.

Political and economical situation: In connection with the new political and economic status of the Republic, the Government of Belarus has begun a series of privatization reforms and the establishment of free-market relationships. The move towards privatization is foremost in the Government’s plans for transforming the economy. The aim is to reduce state-owned property to below 40%.

The Government’s economic priority is to stimulate foreign investment. The Law on Foreign Ivestment has been adopted, welcoming foreign invaders. International consortia, joint ventures and new stock companies can easily be set up. They are tax-free for the first three years and there are restrictions on repatriating foreign capital and profits by foreign businesses.

Text 3: The Land Of Belarus

The Republic of Belarus lies in the western part of the East European plain. The total area of the republic is 207.6 thousands square kilometres. Its size is a little less than that of Great Britain or Yugoslavia. Such countries as Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium together have nearly the same area. The longest distance from north to south is 560 kilometres and the longest distance from east to west is 650 kilometres.

Happy is the land that has friendly neighbours, say the belorussians. Belarus shares borders with five republics: Russia, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Belarus occupies a very profitable geographical position on the long populated and good used lands. It lies on the ways from the south of the Commonwealth of Independent Republics to the Baltic Sea and then to the countries of West Europe. In the past such position caused much trouble for the republic. During the wars the Land of Belarus first met all the enemies and invaders.

Belarus nowadays is divided into six administrative regions (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Minsk).

Belorussian`s natural scenery is wide, lonely plains covered with hills, and many lakes and forests.

The north part of the republic has more hills then the south where the Polesskeya lowland is situated. The highest place in Belarus is the mount Dzerzhinskaya (345m) in Minsk region.

Another unusual place in the west of the republic is the forest called Belovezhskaya Pushcha. This is a very old forest which was once a part of great forest covering the entire Euro-Asian mainland from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Altogether about one-third of Belarus is forest. There are more then three thousand big and small rivers. The biggest and most important of them are the Dnieper, the West Dvina, the Pripyat, the Neman, the Bug and the Sozh. In the past they were great trade ways from Europe to Asia and India and many towns appeared on their banks.

There are more than 10800 lakes in Belarus. From the air they look like blue drops glistening in the sun among forests and plains. Most of them are situated in the northern part of the republic. Many are well-known holiday resorts, the most famous and biggest of them are the Lake Naroch and the Braslav Lakes.

Belarus has always been considered a poor land with no other resources except peat. More than 30 minerals have been discovered nowadays in Belarus. Among them we have oil and natural gas (at Rechitsa), coal and lignite (in Gomel region), rock salt and potassium salts (at Starobin and Petrikov), phosphorites, marl, tuff, iron ore, dolomites and others.

The climate of Belarus is mild and one can travel comfortably here at any time of year. A medium-weight coat would do for Belorussia`s mild winter, damp and windy autumn and unpredictable spring. The moderately continental climate of Belarus is a gift from the Atlantic ocean, and the winds that blow from the ocean make Belarus a zone of stable harvest. The favorable climate had traditionally enable people living here to farm, raise livestock, hunt and fish.

The lower temperature level seldom drop below the average because of the constant collision of warm winds from the Atlantic and mass of cold air from the inner regions of the continent. But sometimes the cold Arctic winds get the upper hand.

Belarus is rich in forests. As I have mentioned before, together with its numerous rivers and lakes Belorussian`s forests and meadows form a unique nature museum with hundreds of remarkable species of plant life, among them many rare species brought here from different parts of the world. They grow next to the native oaks and maples, ash and lime, trees and hazel nut, pear and cherry trees.

There is yet another remarkable feature about Belorussian forests, but there are rich in birds and animals. Ornithologist like to joke that even game birds - red grouse, hazel hen, mallard, woodcock, sing in Belarus.

Today there are no sable in Belorussian forests, but there are many other animals, 73 species in all. You can meet here deer, roe, fallow-deer, wolf, fox, muskrat, otter, ermine and marten. Lynx are seldom to be seen, but you may come across brown bears and beavers in the river's basins.

But the pride of Belarus are the aurochs which is almost extinct elsewhere on our planet. Most of the auroches live in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

Animal and plant life in Belarus is under state protection. There are three wildlife preserves (Berezinskaya, Nalibokskaya and Belovezhskaya pushchas) and eleven forbid forests in the republic.

Belarus (supplementry)

I live in the Republic of Belarus. The Republic is situated in the western part of the East European plain. It borders of the Republic Poland in the west;

on Lithuania and Latvia in the north-west; on the Russian Federation in the north and east; on the Ukraine in the south and south-east. The area of the Belarus is over 207,000 square kilometers. It is 630 km west to east and 560 km north to south. It is much larger than Austria, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Portugal and a number of other countries.

For its present-day the population of Belarus about 10 million peoples. One third of the Republic’s territory is covered with forests. The largest of them are called pushehas. The most beautiful is the Byelovezhskaya. There are nearly 3.000 rivers with the total length of over 51.000 kilometers in Belarus. The chief rivers are the Dnieper, the Nieman, the Zapadnaya Dvina, the Pripyat.

In Belarus there are about 10.800 lakes. The largest of the lakes -- 80 sq km -- is the Naroch and the deepest one -- 54 metres -- is the Dolgoye. The climate is moderately continental. The summer isn't very hot, winter isn't very cold.

Administratively the Belarus consist of 6 regions Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk, and Mogilev. There are 97 towns in the Republic. It's capital is Minsk, with the population of about two million people. In December 1991 Belarus become the independent state. It has been recognazed do 100 states. The highest body of state power in of the Belarus elected for a term of four years.

Belarus is a founder member of UNO.