Key facts about Belarus

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About Belarus:

It is a landlocked country of eastern Europe.
Bordering countries: It borders Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.
The capital and largest city is Minsk.
Languages:
- Spoken languages are Belarusian (official) 24%, but 70% speak Russian (official).
- Ethnic Belarusians, who speak a language closely related to Russian and Ukrainian, make up more than three-quarters of the population.
Relief:
- Much of the country consists of flat lowlands separated by low level-topped hills and uplands.
- About 40% of the country is forested; Białowieża Forest is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European plain.
Rivers:
- The greater part of the republic lies in the basin of the Dnieper—which flows across Belarus from north to south on its way to the Black Sea.
- The extreme southwestern corner of Belarus is drained by the Mukhavyets, a tributary of the Bug (Buh) River, which forms part of the border with Poland and flows to the Baltic Sea.
Climate: It has a cool continental climate moderated by maritime influences from the Atlantic Ocean.
Until it became independent in 1991, Belarus, formerly known as Belorussia or White Russia, was the smallest of the three Slavic republics included in the Soviet Union (the larger two being Russia and Ukraine).

Q1) Which were the Slavic republics included in the Soviet Union?

On December 30, 1922, in post-revolutionary Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine and the Transcaucasian Federation (divided in 1936 into the Georgian, Azerbaijan and Armenian republics).

Source: Russia-friendly Belarus’ Embassy Vandalised in Netherlands as Wagner Boss’ Exile Begins | Watch