Supreme Soviet: elections last held 4 April 1990 (next to be held 14
May 1995); results - Communists 87%; seats - (360 total) number of
seats by party NA; note - 50 seats are for public bodies; the
Communist Party obtained an overwhelming majority

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Political parties and leaders: Belarusian Popular Front (BPF), Zenon
POZNYAK, chairman; Party of Popular Accord, Gennadiy KARPENKO; Union
of Belarusian Entreprenuers, V. N. KARYAGIN; Belarusian Party of
Communists, Vasiliy NOVIKOV, Viktor CHIKIN, chairmen; Belarus Peasant
Party, Yevgeniy LUGIN, chairman; Belarusian Socialist Party,
Vyacheslav KUZNETSOV, chairman; Belarusian Social Democrat Party
(SDBP), Oleg TRUSOV, Stanislav SHUSHKEVICH, chairmen; Agrarian Party
of Belarus, Aleksandr DUBKO; United Democratic Party of Belarus
(UDPB), Aleksandr DOBROVOLSKIY, chairman; Independent Trade Unions,
Sergey ANTONCHIK, chairman

Member of: CCC, CE (guest), CEI (associate members), CIS, EBRD, ECE,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IFC, ILO, IMF, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory
user), INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, NACC, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Sergey Nikolayevich MARTYNOV
chancery: 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009
telephone: [1] (202) 986-1604
FAX: [1] (202) 986-1805
consulate(s) general: New York

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Kenneth Spencer YALOWITZ
embassy: Starovilenskaya #46, Minsk
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [7] (0172) 34-65-37

Flag: three horizontal bands of white (top), red, and white

@Belarus:Economy

Overview: Belarus ranks among the most developed of the former Soviet
states, with a relatively modern - by Soviet standards - and diverse
machine building sector and a robust agriculture sector. It also
serves as a transport link for Russian oil exports to the Baltic
states and Eastern and Western Europe. The breakup of the Soviet Union
and its command economy has resulted in a sharp economic contraction
as traditional trade ties have collapsed. The Belarusian government
has lagged behind the governments of most other former Soviet states
in economic reform, with privatization almost nonexistent. The system
of state orders and distribution persists. In mid-1994, the Belarusian
government embarked on an austerity program with IMF support to