Volozhin Region
Executive Committee

The squad of Minsk region traditionally ranks among the prize-winners of the Cup of the Belarusian Biathlon Federation among boys and girls, but for the first time was able to become the best in the team event at one of its stages. The historic success happened in Novogrudok.

- Difficult weather conditions - 13-14 degrees of frost - did not become a hindrance for the children, - told MLYN.BY, Alexander Chapkovsky, coach and biathlon teacher at the Pleshchenitsa State Regional Secondary School of the Olympic Reserve. - Snow in Grodno region, as well as throughout the country, piled up above the roof. We drove to competitions, for example, at a speed of about 30 kilometers per hour: the roads are slippery, everything is wrapped in a thick white layer of white blanket. And already on the spot they did everything possible so that the wards would not freeze: hot tea, heaters, warm clothes ... The track was in excellent condition, for which thanks to the organizers.

This, by the way, was the fourth stage of the Cup among boys and girls born in 2002-2005, as well as in the junior group (2006-2009).

- It is difficult for us to compete with representatives of the Vitebsk region, where there are two specialized biathlon schools, - continued Alexander Chapkovsky, - but he said to the guys: “It's hard, but you can?”. I'm glad they got it right.

There were many young shooting skiers of the Minsk region among the champions and prize-winners: Kristina Kudelko, Ulyana Kamornikova, Pavel Matsul, Maksim Pavlovich, Bogdan Maksimenko, Sabina Ankudovich, Alexander Storozhenko.

Some took the most offensive in sports - fourth place.

“Believe me, sometimes such a position is more expensive than any medal,” my interlocutor explained. - For example, Valeria Potryasaeva received a special prize for fortitude. She ran about half a kilometer before the shooting range on ... one ski. In the forest, her mount broke. And, you know, I tried so hard that sometimes her speed was no worse than that of those who had everything in order with their equipment. At the shooting range, she was offered to leave, but she refused. When he saw what had happened, he immediately ran to her for a spare ski. This is the spirit of the girl!..

Chapkovsky also asked to mention the coaches of young biathletes: Alexander Skalsky, Marina Mikhnevich, Valery Yatskevich, Anatoly Sinyuk, Vladimir Alenishko ... Without them there would be no such success.

- And further. In our time, one cannot go anywhere without help. They help us with all their might - transport, inventory, everything else, - said the coach. - I will note the role in this of the head of the main department of sports and tourism of the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee Yevgeny Buloichik, as well as Yaroslav Popovich and Andrei Ordynsky.

Written by: minsk-region.gov.by

The Russian airline Azimut announced the launch of flight from Rostov-on-Don to Minsk, BelTA learned from the air carrier's website.

"Azimut Airline informs about the start of air service on the Rostov-on-Don-Minsk route and the launch of ticket sales. The flight will be performed weekly from 16 February on Tuesdays," the airline said.

The flight departs from Rostov-on-Don at 14.20, return flight from Minsk at 17.55.

Earlier, Belavia announced the resumption of air service to Rostov-on-Don after the relevant permission of the Russian authorities. The Belarusian airline will start operating the flight from 13 February on Saturdays with a return to Minsk on Sundays.

Written by: belta.by

Belarus' Transport and Communications Minister Aleksei Avramenko told the media about the main goals for the ministry in 2021 ahead of the ministry's meeting on 5 February, BelTA has learned.

“Talking about the goals for 2021, I would like, first of all, to mention stabilization of the financial state of our main enterprises, which were seriously affected by the pandemic last year. These are aviation and rail companies, and also Minsk National Airport, which saw a 60% drop in passenger traffic,” said Aleksei Avramenko.

The Transport and Communications Ministry plans to implement a number of infrastructure facilities in 2021. “This year we plan to complete the the Minsk-Smolevichi first-class road, reconstruct the road R23 to Soligorsk (almost 20km of the first-class motorways). We also plan to launch the road R46 project and prepare a feasibility study for further modernization of M1/E30 highway within the next five years,” the minister said.

We plan to further develop railway cargo transportation, first of all, container ones. Efforts will be continued to restore air and rail traffic.

Written by: belta.by

The Belarusian national air carrier Belavia will resume air service to Russia's Saint Petersburg as of 12 February and to Russia's Rostov-on-Don as from 13 February, BelTA learned from Belavia's Facebook account.

“Belavia will fly to Saint Petersburg on Fridays as of 12 February. Flights to Rostov-on-Don will be performed on Saturdays with return flights to Minsk on Sundays. Belavia will also increase the number of flights on the route Minsk-Moscow-Minsk. Starting from next week, the company will operate such flights not only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but also on Thursdays, and Sundays,” Belavia said.

The detailed schedule is available on Belavia's website.

Written by: belta.by

The Russian government is resuming railway service and increasing flight frequency with Belarus.

The appropriate resolution was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, BelTA has learned the press service of the Russian government.

“Passenger rail services Minsk-Moscow-Minsk, Moscow - Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad - St. Petersburg via Minsk will be resumed on a reciprocal basis on 8 February 202. The number of regular flights between Moscow and Minsk will be increased from three to five per week on a reciprocal basis on 8 February 2021. The air service from Rostov-on-Don and St. Petersburg to Minsk (one flight per week) from each airport will be resumed too," the statement reads.

This decision was made on a motion from the field office for the prevention of importation and spread of new coronavirus infection.

Written by: belta.by

Protected areas occupy more than 20% of the territory of Belarus, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry.

“In 2018-2020, the size of specially protected natural areas increased by 67,500 hectares to 1.8 million hectares, or 9% of the territory of Belarus. The total area of all protected areas in Belarus (specially protected areas, habitats of endangered species, rare biotopes) is estimated to equal 22% of the country's territory. This level is higher than in Ukraine (17%), Lithuania and Latvia (18%),” the press service said.

Belarus pays special attention to restoration of disrupted ecosystems. “Thanks to international technical assistance, Belarus rewetted more than 15,000 hectares of peatlands in the past three years. Plans are in place to rehabilitate over 5,000 hectares of peatlands in 2021. As a result of efforts to preserve and restore ecosystems, Belarus saw a rise in the number of wild animals and plants,” the ministry noted.

Belarus tops the ranking of countries with the largest number of wild European bison in the world: their growing population already includes more than 2,000 animals. The lynx population grew by 80% to about 900 animals in the past three years. “Belarus is home to around 40% of the global population of the aquatic warbler, 10% of the greater spotted eagle, and 3% of the great snipe. Belarus' Red Book of Endangered Species includes 303 plant species and 202 animal species,” the press service added.

Written by: belta.by

High-speed 4G Internet is available to 89.4% of Belarus' population, BelTA learned from the Belarusian Communications and Informatization Ministry.

“The coverage of the LTE mobile communication network in Belarus has expanded significantly in the past six months. As of late 2020, it reached 89.4% of the Belarusian population and 30.6% of the country's territory,” the ministry noted.

Second-generation mobile phone technology (2G) reaches 98.7% of the territory of Belarus, and the 3G coverage is 98.4%.

As of 1 January 2021, there were 189 communications service providers in Belarus.

The number of fixed-line broadband subscribers totals 3.256 million and IPTV has 2.36 million subscribers. More than 3.62 million subscribers are connected to the IMS-platform. The number of subscribers connected using the GPON technology is 2.74 million.

The bandwidth of the external Internet access channel went up by 50Gbps over the past six months to 1,800Gbps.

In 2020, the number of mobile communication subscribers amounted to 11.66 million.

Written by: belta.by

Flights will be performed on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays (with departure from Tbilisi the following day).

Departure from Minsk is at 22:40, arrival in Tbilisi at 02.40. Departure from Tbilisi at 03.35 with arrival in Minsk at 05.35. Departure and arrival times are local. Travel time is 3 hours.

The airline notes that the entry restrictions are in force in Georgia.

Written by Belta

The state has always tried its best to fulfill the country's five-year plans as complete as possible. These programs have been implemented especially fruitfully and successfully in the last ten years, MP of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Svetlana Bartosh, who has been nominated as a delegate to the 6th Belarusian People's Congress, told BelTA.

“The Belarusian People's Congress will not be a new experience for me, as I have already participated in this large-scale event twice. At its fourth edition, many noted that in 2011-2015 it was necessary to focus on the implementation of innovations and attracting investment to the country. At the following meeting, most delegates advocated the efforts to increase the birth rate, improve the healthcare of citizens, ensure the construction of quality and affordable housing, improve the efficiency of the agro-industrial complex. After the discussion of the main areas of the country's development, the urgent problems and ways to solve them at the Congress, each time I watched as those wishes and aspirations of the residents of our country were translated into reality and the urgent problems were solved within the following years. In recent years, Belarus has really moved forward in its development, and a certain role in this was played by the Belarusian People's Congress, which helps accumulate the needs of the people and think over the right steps to implement them,” said Svetlana Bartosh.

According to the delegate, the Belarusian People's Congress has always united delegates of different ages and professions from all over the country, who had no problem finding a common language and did the utmost to build a constructive and useful dialogue during the event. “I hope that the upcoming meeting will also be peaceful and fruitful, because we have a lot of urgent topics to discuss. First of all it is the political structure of the country. We also need to raise many social and economic issues,” said Svetlana Bartosh.

The delegate has several topics for discussion at the meeting. This is the effective implementation of state programs in the country and a stricter control over the implementation of projects, the development of the rural area and infrastructure for comfortable living in them. There is also the need for new companies in small towns, where people are in dire need of jobs. “In the coming years we must do our utmost to ensure that the Belarusians have the opportunity to find employment in their place of residence and get decent salaries for their work. I will try to do my best to achieve this,” Svetlana Bartosh said.

The 6th Belarusian People's Congress will take place in Minsk on 11-12 February 2021. The main provisions of Belarus' social and economic development program for 2021-2025, as well as the trends of the country's social and political development will be discussed by the participants of the Congress. The total number of the participants and invitees will be 2,700 people.

A source

Belarus confirmed 1,718 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours; another 2,131 coronavirus patients were discharged from hospital, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Healthcare Ministry.

The nationwide coronavirus tally was pushed to 242,851 cases. A total of 229,199 patients previously diagnosed with COVID-19 have recovered in Belarus.

As many as 1,688 COVID-19 patients suffering from a number of chronic diseases have died since the infection's outbreak in Belarus.

Belarus performed 4,415,199 tests, 15,832 – in the past 24 hours.

A source