Brest (
Belarusian ?????,
IPA [br?st];
Lithuanian Brestas (Earlier name&_160; Lietuvos brasta) ,
Polish Brzesc,
Ukrainian ?????, ?????-??????????, ???????,
Russian ?????,
Yiddish ??????; also known as
Bierascie or
Biarescie (
Belarusian ??´?????? and ????´???? respectively; and in the
Chron. Berestie and
Berestov; see also
alternative names), formerly
Brzesc Litewski,
Brest-on-the-Bug and
Brest-Litovsk, is a city (population 290,000 in 2004) in
Belarus close to the
Polish border where the Western
Bug and
Mukhavets Rivers meet. It is the capital city of the
Brest voblast.
Being situated on the main Berlin–Moscow railway line and intercontinental highway, Brest became a principal border crossing since World War II in Soviet times. Today it links the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Because of the break-of-gauge at Brest between the Russian broad-gauge system and the European standard gauge, all through rail passenger cars must have their bogies changed here, cargo in freight trains must be transshipped. Some of the land in the Brest rail yards remains contaminated as a result of the transshipment of radioactive materials here since Soviet days.
There are several theories of the city name origin. The most common are as follows,
