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General Information
Area: 207,595 sq km (80,153 sq miles).
Population: 10,335,382 (2002).
Population Density: 49.8 per sq km.
Capital: Minsk. Population: 1,725,100 (1999).
GEOGRAPHY: Belarus is bordered by Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. It is covered largely by forests and lakes which are rich in wildlife and is crossed by major rivers such as the Dnieper.
Government: Republic since 1991. Head of State: President Aleksandr Lukashenka since 1994. Head of Government: Prime Minister Henadz Navitski since 2001.
Language: The official languages are Belarusian and Russian.
Religion: Christian, mainly Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic with small Protestant, Jewish and Muslim communities.
Time: GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).
Electricity: 220V, 50Hz. Adaptors are recommended.
Telephone
IDD is available to all major cities, including Minsk (17) and Brest (162). Country code: 375. To make international calls it is necessary to dial 8, wait for a tone then dial 10. Calls from Belarus to some countries must be booked through the international operator. Public telephones take cards. Grey booths are for internal calls and blue ones for international calls.
Mobile telephone
GSM 900 network covers Minsk and other towns. Main operators are Velcom (website: www.velcom.by) and MTS (website: www.mts.by). Coverage is limited to main towns. Handsets can be hired at the airport (Belcel office) and in Minsk.
Fax
Services are available in all larger hotels in Minsk and other big cities. Faxes can also be sent from any of the state telegraph offices or from business centres. There are some public fax facilities.
Internet
There are a few Internet cafes in Minsk. Access is also available at some post offices. Local ISPs include Belpak (website: www.belpak.by) and Solo (website: www.solo.by).
Telegram
These can be sent from hotels and telephone offices.
Post
Airmail to Western Europe takes a minimum of ten days. Larger hotels offer Poste Restante services. The Central Post Office (Minsk, Skoriny 10; open 0730-2300) and the Yubileynaya and Planeta hotels in Minsk offer express mail services. DHL Worldwide Express and Federal Express also have branches in Minsk.
Press
The English-language paper Belarus Today is published weekly. The principal dailies are Narodnaya Hazeta, Belorusskaya Niva and Respublika, all printed in Belarusian and Russian. Sovetskaya Beloroussiya is printed in Russian. Zvyazda is printed in Belarusian.
BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change.
BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice):
Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov):
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
Terms and Conditions apply.
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