Serbia

Serbia became a stand-alone sovereign republic in summer 2006 after Montenegro voted in a referendum for independence from the Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

When the vote was followed by a formal declaration of independence by Montenegro, a special session of parliament in Belgrade declared Serbia to be the legal successor to the now defunct union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Serbia inherits membership of the United Nations and other international institutions.

Serbia's parliament meets in central Belgrade

Serbia and Montenegro, the two republics still left in the old Yugoslav federation, had agreed in 2002 to scrap remnants of the ex-communist state and create the new, looser Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

The EU-brokered deal under which the union came into being in 2003 was intended to stabilise the region by settling Montenegrin demands for independence and preventing further changes to Balkan borders.

The same agreement also contained the seeds of the Union's dissolution. It stipulated that after three years the two republics could hold referendums on whether to keep or scrap it. Montenegro duly voted for independence in a referendum in May 2006.

The two republics had been united in one form or another for nearly 90 years. With separation from Montenegro, Serbia is cut off from the Adriatic Sea and becomes landlocked.

Yugoslav era

The end of the Union of Serbia and Montenegro marked the closing chapter in the history of the separation of the six republics of the old Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia which was proclaimed in 1945 and comprised Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia.

Under Yugoslavia's authoritarian communist leader, Josip Broz Tito, the lid was kept on ethnic tensions. The federation lasted for over 10 years after his death in 1980 but under Serbian nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic it fell apart through the 1990s.

The secession of Slovenia and Macedonia came relatively peacefully but there were devastating wars in Croatia and Bosnia. Serbia and Montenegro together formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1992 and 2003.

Kosovo

In 1998 violence flared in the autonomous province of Kosovo in Serbia. The Kosovo Liberation Army, supported by the majority ethnic Albanians, came out in open rebellion against Serbian rule. International pressure on Milosevic grew amid the escalating violence.

Nato launched air strikes in Kosovo and Serbia in March 1999. An exodus of ethnic Albanians to neighbouring countries gathered pace. The UN took over administration of the region after Serbian forces had been driven out.

Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008 after the failure of UN-brokered talks on the status of the province. Serbia said the declaration was illegal, and other countries are divided as to whether to recognise it.

Road to Europe

In late 2005, the EU began talks with Belgrade on the possibility of reaching a Stabilisation and Association Agreement. These were called off some months later because of the continuing failure of the Serbian authorities to arrest several war crimes suspects.

One of the most notorious of these, the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, was arrested in Belgrade in July 2008 by Serbian security forces and extradited to The Hague, weeks after a pro-Western government took office. European foreign ministers praised the arrest as a significant step for Serbia in its efforts to join the EU.

In December 2009 Serbia formally submitted its application to join the EU, though membership negotiations cannot begin in earnest until two war crimes suspects still at large - including the former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic - have been captured.

Relations with Russia

Though the current Serbian government is pro-Western and sees eventual membership of the EU as being in the country's best interests, Serbia is traditionally an ally of Russia, which supported its opposition to Kosovo's independence.

In 2008, Serbia-Russia ties were further strengthened by the signing of a major energy deal, and in October 2009 Russia granted Serbia a 1bn euro (?0.9bn) loan to help it cover its budget deficit after the economy was hit hard by the global downturn.

Full name: Republic of Serbia Population: 9.9 million (UN, 2010, includes Kosovo; UN mission estimates Kosovo population as circa 2 million)Capital: BelgradeArea: 88,361 sq km (34,116 sq miles) (includes Kosovo) Major language: Serbian Major religion: ChristianityLife expectancy: 72 years (men), 77 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: Dinar = 100 paras Main exports: Manufactured goods, food and live animals, machinery and transport equipment GNI per capita: US $5,990 (World Bank, 2009) Internet domain: .rs International dialling code: +381

President: Boris Tadic

Boris Tadic: A pro-Europe reformer

Boris Tadic, leader of the Democratic Party (DS), first took up office in 2004. He was re-elected in 2008, once again defeating his nationalist rival Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Radical Party in a run-off.

Mr Tadic, who took over as DS leader after the assassination of former premier Zoran Djindjic in 2003, backs free market, pro-European reforms and Nato membership.

He has called on Serbs to turn their backs on the nationalism of the past and to understand that only the European route will bring lasting improvements to their lives. He has pledged full cooperation with The Hague tribunal.

Mr Tadic has worked to promote reconciliation between Serbia and other former members of the Yugoslav federation, and in 2010 he paid landmark visits to Srebrenica in Bosnia and Vukovar in Croatia - where notorious massacres were carried out by Serb forces during the conflict of the early 1990s - to pay his respects to the victims of the atrocities.

He was born in 1958 and trained as a psychologist.

There is a rift between the DS and the centre-right Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) led by former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica. Mr Kostunica formed the DS in 1989 with Zoran Djindjic.

However, the party split and Mr Kostunica set up the DSS. Feuding between the DS and DSS has bedevilled Serbian politics ever since.

Prime minister: Mirko Cvetkovic

Mirko Cvetkovic rejects Kosovan independence

Mirko Cvetkovic was sworn in as prime minister in July 2008 after an early election in May.

The election was called after the coalition government led by Vojislav Kostunica fell apart over policy on Kosovo.

Mr Cvetkovic heads a new coalition government in which his own Democratic Party is in an unlikely alliance with erstwhile rivals in the nationalist Socialist Party, as well as smaller parties representing minorities.

In his swearing-in speech, Mr Cvetkovic made clear his government's rejection of Kosovan independence and said he would push for Serbia's accession to the European Union.

His government submitted a formal application to join the EU in December 2009.

Mr Cvetkovic studied Economics in Belgrade and was formerly a finance minister.

Television is, by far, the main source of news and information. The flagship public network, RTS1, is among a handful of outlets that dominate the market.

The media regulator awarded national TV licences in 2006 to private stations B92, TV Pink, News Corp's Fox TV (now Prva Srpska), TV Avala and a licence share to Kosava-Happy TV. It granted five national radio licences - to B92, Radio Index, Radio S, Roadstar and Radio Focus.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in 2010, "death threats, physical or verbal assaults, harassment and corruption are unfortunately still the daily lot of the press." Journalists have been the victims of reprisals for investigating the criminal underworld, RSF said.

There were 4.1 million internet users by June 2010 (Internetworldstats). In the same month, the number of Facebook users topped two million, according to Blic newspaper. Internet access is unrestricted, NGO Freedom House says.

The press

Television

Radio

News agencies

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