Economy, Transportation and Communications

Belarus has an extensive road and rail network with some 5,523 km (3,432 mi) of railroads and 74,385 km (46,221 mi) of roads. The system is geared primarily to former Soviet republics and Eastern European countries. The major railroad, which was built in the 1860s to connect Moscow and Warsaw, runs through Belarus via Minsk and Brest. The best-quality road in Belarus is that which links Moscow with Warsaw.

Belarus has four international airports, the largest of which is Minsk-2, located about 50 km (about 30 mi) east of Minsk. Although Minsk-2 serves airlines from Germany, Austria, Poland, Scandinavia, and other countries, the airport operates well below capacity. Belarus derived a national airline, Belavia, from the former Soviet Aeroflot planes it inherited when the USSR was dissolved.

The state owns and operates all principal daily newspapers and the National State Television and Radio Company, as well as nearly all the country’s printing and broadcasting facilities. Since taking office in 1994, the president of Belarus has replaced editors of several state-owned newspapers with his own appointees and placed the legislature’s newspaper under the control of the executive branch. In 1996 the government restricted freedom of the press in an attempt to stifle political opposition. Though some small independent weekly newspapers still publish in Minsk, all of the large dailies are organs of the Council of Ministers and reflect the views of that government body.