Belarus
/ˌbɛləˈruːs
/
A country in eastern Europe; population 9,648,500 (est. 2009); official language, Belorussian; capital, Minsk. Formerly called Belorussia, White Russia.
Successively part of the grand duchy of Lithuania, Poland, and the Russian empire, the country became a republic of the Soviet Union in 1921. Belarus gained independence as a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991 but in 1996 signed a treaty with Russia that established a Community of Sovereign Republics.
