NewsTracker Answers for week of Feb. 17, 2020

Q: The president of Belarus said that Russia insisted on merging the two former Soviet states during recent negotiations about increasing economic ties. Where is Belarus?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet spy, has sought to control several nations once ruled by the disbanded Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 2014, Russia annexed part of which nation south of Belarus?

A. Latvia

B. Lithuania

C. Poland

D. Ukraine

D. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula after its troops helped seize it from Ukraine. Belarus is bordered by Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest and Russia to the northeast and east.

Q: Belarus and its neighbors were all once controlled by the Russian Empire and later by the Russian-dominated USSR. Which neighbor was a “satellite state” but not officially part of the Soviet Union during the Cold War?

A. Latvia

B. Lithuania

C. Poland

D. Ukraine

C. Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine were all part of the Soviet Union. But, the Polish People's Republic was formed after World War II and dominated politically and militarily by the USSR until it broke away in 1989. Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine became independent nations after the USSR broke up in 1990.

Q: Like Putin in Russia, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko rules his nation as an iron-fisted authoritarian. But, Lukashenko insists he would never give up Belarus independence. What is the capital of Belarus?

A. Minsk

B. Riga

C. Vilnius

D. Warsaw

A. With a population of 1.9 million people, Minsk is also the largest city in Belarus. Riga is the capital of Latvia; Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania; and Warsaw is the capital of Poland.

Q: Unlike Belarus or Ukraine, the former Soviet states of Latvia, Lithuania and neighbor Estonia are all members of . . .

A. NATO

B. European Union

C. Eurozone

D. All of the above

D. The three small Baltic Sea nations are military allies of the United States in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). And, they are members of the European Union (EU) which also use the Euro as their currency. Baltic nation leaders are wary of Putin who would like to weaken both NATO and the EU.