Why were Belarus and Ukraine founding members of the UN in 1945, when they were part of the Soviet Union?

elburcher

After the Second World War, the Soviet Ukraine ended up with the borders extended West, with most of Ukrainian lands under one political state. As a result of a political compromise between the West and the Soviets, Ukraine, being a republic of USSR, became one of the founding members of the United Nations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine In Mar., 1918, the Belarusian National Rada in Minsk proclaimed the region an independent republic; but in Jan., 1919, the Soviet government proclaimed a Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic at Smolensk, and soon the Red Army occupied all of Belarus. In 1921, the Treaty of Riga, which ended the Soviet-Polish War, awarded W Belarus to Poland. The eastern and larger part formed the Belorussian SSR when the USSR was formally established in 1922. In Sept., 1939, the Soviet army overran W Belarus and incorporated it into the Belorussian SSR. Occupied by the Germans during World War II, Belorussia was one of the most devastated areas of the USSR. In 1945 its western border was adjusted slightly in favor of Poland, but the 1939 frontier remained essentially unchanged. The republic has had a separate seat in the United Nations since 1945. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0856895.html Jan 16 07, 8:29 PM