Alexander Lukashenko in the context of "Sovkhoz"

The Belarusian economic miracle was a period of significant economic growth, urbanisation, and social change in Belarus during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Beginning under Kirill Mazurov, the Belarusian economy began a process of industrialisation which greatly accelerated under Pyotr Masherov. It continued until the 2008 financial crisis, as Belarus endured the dissolution of the Soviet Union and subsequent economic problems within the region without wide-reaching privatisation. The economic model of Belarus during this time period has since been referred to the Belarusian model, and has since been attributed to the government of Alexander Lukashenko by Western analysts.

Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich (15 December 1934 – 3 May 2022) was a Belarusian politician and scientist who served as the first head of state of independent Belarus after it seceded from the Soviet Union, serving as the first chairman of the Supreme Soviet (also called chairman of Parliament or president) from 1991 to 1994. He supported social democratic reforms and played a key role in the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He later became an opposition leader against Alexander Lukashenko.

This article details the geographical distribution of Russian speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of derussification aimed at reversing former trends of Russification, while Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko and the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin reintroduced Russification policies in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively.

After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, derussification occurred in the newly-independent Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Kars Oblast, the last of which became part of Turkey.

The Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC or EurAsEC) was a regional organisation between 2000 and 2014 which aimed for the economic integration of its member states. The organisation originated from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on 29 March 1996, with the treaty on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community signed on 10 October 2000 in Kazakhstan's capital Astana by Presidents Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan, Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan. Uzbekistan joined the community on 7 October 2005, but later withdrew on 16 October 2008.

During the 14 years, the EAEC implemented a number of economic policies to unify the community. The Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia was formed on 1 January 2010, and later renamed the Eurasian Customs Union. The four freedoms of movement modelled after the European Union (goods, capital, services, and people) were fully implemented by 25 January 2012, with the formation of the Eurasian Economic Space.