abkhazia african union alexander lukashenko area associated press belarus belarusian language belarusian ruble bicameralism boris yeltsin commonwealth of independent states confederation continental union coordinated universal time currency customs customs union daylight saving time double-headed eagle european union federal republic of yugoslavia federation flag of the soviet union kazakhstan kyrgyzstan minsk moldova national anthem of the soviet union national assembly of belarus nursultan nazarbayev official language pavel borodin post-soviet states president of belarus president of russia red star russia russia-belarus energy dispute russian language russian ruble serbia serbian radical party south ossetia soviet union state duma supranationalism time zone union of south american nations united states dollar value added tax viktor zubkov vladimir putin vladimir voronin