Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordering Russia to the east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk and other major cities include Brest, Grodno, Gomel, Mogilev and Vitebsk. One third of the country is forested, and industries such as agriculture and manufacturing are staples of the Belarusian economy. At different points in its history, parts of Belarus have been under the control of several countries, including the Duchy of Polatsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. Belarus became a Soviet republic in 1922. The republic declared its sovereignty on July 27, 1990. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus officially declared independence on August 25, 1991. Since 1994, Alexander Lukashenko has been the country's president. Belarus is currently in negotiations with Russia to unify into a single state: the Union of Russia and Belarus. Belarus is also the only European nation that has been formally barred from joining the Council of Europe because of human rights violations and for conducting elections that do not meet democratic standards (This portion of our site is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Belarus").

Evangelical believers represent 1.5% of the population of Belarus (Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, 2005, pg. 100).

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