I.

Introduction

Serbia (in Serbian, Srbija), landlocked republic, south-eastern Europe, formerly comprising with Montenegro, the federal republic of Serbia and Montenegro (known until February 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or FRY). Montenegro declared independence in June 2006. Serbia is bordered on the north by Hungary; on the north-west by Croatia, on the east by Romania and Bulgaria; on the south by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; on the south-west by Albania; and on the west by Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia was one of the six constituent republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed on April 27, 1992, by the two republics and claimed by them to be the automatic successor of the SFRY, a claim not acknowledged by the UN or recognized internationally. Serbia includes the formerly autonomous provinces of Kosovo, in the south, and Vojvodina, in the north. Including these two, Serbia has an area of 88,361 sq km (34,116 sq mi); without them, it is 55,968 sq km (21,609 sq mi). The capital of Serbia is Belgrade.