Belarus
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
Belarus can be reached from Italy mainly by air via the Minsk International Airport (MSQ), located some 42 km from the capital, with stopover flights via Moscow, Warsaw, Frankfurt or Istanbul. Overland access from Western Europe is via Poland: the most direct route from Warsaw enters Belarus at the Brest border and continues on the [M1] motorway to Minsk; the border requires valid documents and, depending on the period, specific visas or waivers bound by the agreements in force. The Belarusian Railways (Belaruskaïa Chygunka - BCh) operates a state railway network connecting Minsk with Brest, Grodno, Gomel, Vitebsk and Mogilev; international trains connect Minsk with Warsaw, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev, although the conditions of these services are subject to regional political tensions. Due to the political situation in Belarus and international sanctions in force from 2020 onwards, the country is subject to overflight restrictions for some European airlines; updated access conditions should be checked before departure. The internal road network is well developed: the [M2] motorway connects Minsk with the international airport and the [M5] to Gomel and the Ukrainian border; roads are flat and winter conditions can be severe due to heavy snowfall.
.Introduction
Belarus is a landlocked eastern European state located in the western sector of the former Soviet Union. It borders Poland to the west, Lithuania and Latvia to the north-west, Russia to the north and east, and Ukraine to the south. The territory, with a surface area of 207,600 km², consists mainly of the Sarmatian Lowlands: a vast undulating plain, more elevated in the north due to the presence of moraine deposits left over from the last ice age, furrowed by navigable rivers - the Dnepr, Neman, Bug and Dvina - and dotted with lakes, swamps and peat bogs, particularly in the southern region of Polessia. The highest point in the country is the Dzyarzhynskaya Hill (345 m), while average altitudes do not exceed 160 m. Since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Belarus has maintained a system of government that has progressively centralised power in the figure of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power continuously since 1994. The legacy of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (1986), most of whose territory was affected in the then Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, has left environmental and health consequences in the country that in 2024 still affect around 12% of the territory. The official language is Belarusian, flanked by Russian, both East Slavic languages with a Cyrillic alphabet.
Description
The Belarusian landscape is characterised by the vastness of the plains, the dominance of forests - covering almost a third of the national surface area - and the presence of an exceptional number of lakes: it is estimated that the country has more than 11,000 bodies of water, mostly of glacial origin, with Naroč (80 km²) being the largest. Polessia, in the southern sector on the border with Ukraine, is one of the largest wetland areas in Europe, with a system of wetlands and peat bogs of great ecological value. The main rivers - Dnepr, Neman, Western Bug, Pripjat' and Western Dvina - have historically been used as communication routes and are connected by artificial waterways. The forests consist predominantly of pine (Pinus sylvestris), fir (Picea abies), birch (Betula pendula) and oak (Quercus robur).
The history of Belarus is marked by its geographical position between larger powers, which has determined its fluctuations in statehood. The territory was inhabited by the Eastern Slavic tribes of Dregovici, Kriviči and Radimici between the 7th and 9th centuries, and then came into the orbit of the Kievan Principality. In the 14th century it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which joined Poland in 1569. The partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century brought the territory under Russian control, initiating a long process of Russification. The dramatic impact of World War II - in which Belarus lost one of the highest proportions of any European nation, with estimates of 2-3 million dead out of a population of around 9 million - left a deep impression on the collective memory, with the city of Minsk entirely destroyed and rebuilt in Soviet style after the war. Independence was proclaimed in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR; in the same year, in Viskuli in the Białowieża Forest (Belarusian: Belavezhskaya Pushcha Forest), the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the agreement that formally sanctioned the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Belarusian economy remains heavily state-owned and dependent on Russia, which supplies oil and gas on favourable terms. The main sectors are the production of heavy machinery (Minsk tractors and KAMAZ-BelAZ trucks), metal processing, the chemical and oil industry, the production of potash fertilisers - of which Belarus is one of the world's largest exporters - and agriculture, with barley, potatoes, sugar beet and cattle breeding as the main items. The IT sector, developed in the so-called Minsk Technology Park, assumed international importance before the 2020 sanctions. European and American economic sanctions, imposed after the political crisis of 2020 and then exacerbated by Minsk's alignment with Russia in the conflict in Ukraine, have severely penalised the economy.
The country's most significant protected area is the Belavezhskaya Pushcha Forest, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 as a transboundary area shared with Poland (where it is called Puszcza Białowieska). This primeval forest - the largest in Europe - covers around 3,000 km² on the Belarusian side and is home to the largest population of European bison (Bison bonasus) in the world: around 1,000 specimens. The birdlife includes almost 300 species, including eagles, herons and tawny owls. Lake Naroč National Park, Pripyatsky National Park and the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve complete the system of protected areas. Although Belarusian culture has been under pressure from Russification for more than two centuries, it has retained its own traditions in linen handicrafts, weaving, folk music and seasonal celebrations related to the agricultural calendar. Minsk, almost completely destroyed during World War II, was rebuilt according to the canons of Stalinist architecture, with wide thoroughfares, large squares and neoclassical buildings that give it a recognisable urban character.
Belarus does not offer mountainous terrain; outdoor activities are developed on lake shores, in forests and on inland waterways. The lake system in the north-western sector - around Naroč, Braslav and Svityaz - is the main area for light hiking, canoeing and cycling. The forests, criss-crossed by paths that are not always systematically marked, are used for nature walks and wildlife observation. Trekking in the Belavezhskaya Pushcha Forest, with the opportunity to spot European bison in a natural environment, is the country's most original hiking proposal.
Mountaineering is absent from the country's tradition and offer, given the completely flat terrain. Belarus has never expressed a mountaineering school of its own, although some of its athletes practised cliff climbing and competed internationally during the Soviet period.
Trail running in Belarus is in its infancy. The flat terrain lends itself more to forest dirt running than to trail running proper; some local events take place in the forests around Minsk and in the lake areas of the north, but there are no races of international significance.
Information
Capital: Minsk
Area: 207.600 km²
Minimum elevation: 80m (Polessia plain)
Maximum elevation: 345m - Dzyarzhynskaya Hill
Number of inhabitants: 9,200.000 (estimate 2023)
Official name: Rèspublika Bielaruś
Name of inhabitants: Belarusians
Regions: 6 oblasts (Brest, Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Vitebsk)
Bordering countries: Lettonia - Lithuania - Poland - Russia - Ukraine
Institutional website: https://www.gov.by