Belarus National Holiday

Independence Day

Unlike the other countries that formed the part of the erstwhile Soviet Union, Belarusian does not celebrate its Independence Day to honor its freedom from the USSR.

Instead, it celebrates the liberation of its capital city, Minsk from the Nazi forces in 1944. Each year the country commemorates this occasion on July 3.

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Hrodna (Grodno), Homiel (Gomel), Mahilyow (Mogilev) and Vitsebsk (Vitebsk). Over forty percent of its 207,600 square kilometers (80,200 sq mi) is forested, and its strongest economic sectors are service industries and manufacturing.

According to the 2009 census, the population is 9,503,807. Belarusian, sometimes referred to as White Ruthenian, is an official language of Belarus, along with Russian, and is spoken abroad, chiefly in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.