Belarus
Rogwold and Rogneda - Series: Strengthening and Defending the State
2006 Proof Silver 20 Roubles 38.61mm (33.62 grams) 0.925 Silver (0.9998 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 357 (Mintage: 5,000)
РЭСПУБЛІКА БЕЛАРУСЬ Ag 925 20 РУБЛЁЎ 2015, Fortified town the State Coat-of-Arms of the Republic of Belarus atop.
УСЯСЛАЎ ПОЛАЦКІ 1044-1101, Rogwold with hand on his daughter Rogneda's shoulder, ship at sail upper right.
Edge Lettering:
УМАЦАВАННЕ І АБАРОНА ДЗЯРЖАВЫ You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 Rogvolod (Russian: Рогволод, romanized: Rogvolod; Belarusian: Рагвалод, romanized: Rahvałod; c. 920 – 978) was the first chronicled prince of Polotsk (945–978). In the Russian Primary Chronicle, he is known as Рогъволодъ, probably a slavicized version of the Old Norse name Ragnvald. The name has also been connected with the Russian words рог and володеть, from which the formation of the name may have come. He was a Varangian, unrelated to Vladimir the Great, and was established at Polotsk in the mid-10th century, most likely having come from overseas (i.e., from Scandinavia or the Southern Baltic). According to the Russian Primary Chronicle, Vladimir the Great sought an alliance with him in 980 by marrying his daughter Rogneda, but she refused, insulting his parentage, and married his brother, Yaropolk. In revenge, Vladimir attacked Rogvolod and his family, killing him and his sons, after which he raped Rogneda, and forcibly took her as his bride.
 Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus covers an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi), with a population of 9.4 million, and is the thirteenth-largest and the twentieth-most populous country in Europe. The country is administratively divided into seven regions, and is one of the world's most urbanized, with over 40% of its total land area forested. Minsk is the country's capital and largest city.
Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including Kievan Rus', the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy amidst the Civil War, ultimately ending in the rise of the Byelorussian SSR, which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. After the Polish-Soviet War, Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland. Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II. During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945, the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union. .svg/220px-Europe-Belarus_(orthographic_projection).svg.png) The parliament of the republic proclaimed the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 25 August 1991. Following the adoption of a new constitution in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko was elected Belarus's first president in the country's first and only free election post-independence, serving as president ever since. Lukashenko's government is widely considered to be authoritarian and human rights groups consider human rights in the country to be poor. Belarus is the only country in Europe officially using the death penalty. Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy. In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, forming the Union State. Belarus is a developing country ranking very high in the Human Development Index. It has been a member of the United Nations since its founding; and a member of the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU, and the Non-Aligned Movement, it has shown no aspirations for joining the European Union but nevertheless maintains a bilateral relationship with the Union, and likewise participates in two EU projects: the Eastern Partnership and the Baku Initiative.
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