Belarusian is an eastern Slavic language closely related to Russian and Ukranian, with some influence from western Slavic languages such as Polish. Belarusian started to develop in the 13th century from old Russian and played the role of state language in the Grand Duchy of Litva in the 14th and 15th centuries. In recent times, after Belarus gained independence in 1990, Belarusian was made the official language. But now there is great pressure on Belarusian to be substituted by Russian in schools and official organizations.