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.

Overview

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

Serbian parliament building, Belgrade

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.

Facts

* Full name: Republic of Serbia

* Population: 9.9 million

* Capital: Belgrade

* Area: 88,361 sq km (34,116 sq miles)

* Major language: Serbian

* Major religion: Christianity

* Life expectancy: 72 years (men), 76 years (women) (UN)

* Monetary unit: Dinar = 100 paras

* Main exports: Manufactured goods, food and live animals, machinery and transport equipment

* GNI per capita: US $4,730 (World Bank, 2007)

* Internet domain: .rs and .yu

* International dialling code: +381

Leaders

President: Boris Tadic

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.

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) of 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 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.

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

Media

The end of the Milosevic era brought new freedoms for the Serbian media and former pro-Milosevic outlets rushed to denounce the past.

RTS, the national, government-funded TV and radio service, aims to become a public broadcaster and state-funded local and regional media outlets are set to be privatised.

Hundreds of private TV and radio stations throng the airwaves, competing for a share of a small advertising market.

However, Serbia's media regulator aims to bring some order to the scene. In April 2006 it awarded national TV licences to the private operators B92, TV Pink, News Corp's Fox TV, TV Avala and a licence share to Kosava-Happy TV.

It also granted five national radio licences - to B92, Radio Index, Radio S, Roadstar and Radio Focus.

In Kosovo a commission set up by the UN has set out a code of conduct for journalists which aims to prevent incitement to hatred in the media.

The public broadcaster, RTK, was set up as an editorially-independent service.

UN-supervised Blue Sky Radio aims to provide a multi-ethnic audience with impartial news.

The press

* Politika - private daily

* Blic - popular private daily, English-language pages

* Danas - private daily

* Glas javnosti - private daily

* NIN - private weekly

* Vreme - private weekly

* Nedeljni telegraf - private weekly

* Vecernje Novosti - daily

Television

* Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) - government-funded

* B92 TV - private

* TV Pink - private

* Studio B TV - run by Belgrade city council

Radio

* Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) - government-funded

* B92 - private

* Association of Independent Electronic Media - representing private local radio and TV stations

News agencies

* Tanjug - state-run, English-language pages

* Beta - private, English-language pages

* FoNet - private