Belarusian volunteers receive military training at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 8, 2022. Despite the Belarus-Russian alliance, hundreds of Belarusian emigrants and citizens have arrived in Ukraine to help the Ukrainian army.
(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
The Belarusian regime is bitterly despised by its people, but it survives through the use of force and Russian support. Belarusians don’t want war, and their country is also under occupation.
Allies? Or client and patron: Belarus president, Alexandr Lukashenko, and Russian president, Vladimir Putin, after Kremlin talks in February 2022.
EPA-EFE/Sergey Guneev/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Belarus president Alexandr Lukashenko has a difficult decision to make if he wants to help his ally Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.
A carnival float featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin handling Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko like a puppet, is presented in the center of Cologne, western Germany, on February 28, 2022, where a “Freedom for Ukraine” demonstration took place instead of the traditional carnival Rose Monday procession.
Ina Fassbender/AFP
Caught between reliance on the Kremlin and strong antiwar sentiments at home, Alexander Lukashenko is treading a fine line on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Since 2020, Belarus and Russia have accelerated moves towards integration.
Pictorial Press Ltd | Alamy Stock Photo
By allowing Russian military presence in Belarus, president Aliaksandr Lukashenka has forfeited his country’s sovereignty.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, left, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 18, 2022.
Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Belarus’ alliance with Russia is a strategic factor in the Ukraine war. The country’s long-term dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has indicated he will do as Russian President Vladimir Putin says.
In the space of one week, some of the old certainties about Europe have been thrown out the window.
Russian tanks take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia in January 2022. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are positioned near Ukraine.
(AP Photo)
Pro-democracy uprisings in Slavic states were unsuccessful, but there’s festering discontent in the region. Russia attributes it to western interference, and intends to reverse the trend in Ukraine.
Russian soldiers take part in military drills in the Rostov region of Russia, near Ukraine’s border, on Dec. 10, 2021.
Associated Press
Russia appears inching closer to invading Ukraine, despite warnings from the US and other Western powers. Here are a few key ideas to help better understand what led to this looming crisis.
Resistance: a Ukrainian reservist during a military exercise at a training ground near Kiev.
EPA-EFE/Sergey Dolzhenko
Negotiations between Western democracies and Russia over the fate of Ukraine took place against a backdrop of Russia troops entering Kazakhstan. It’s a reminder that Russia is willing to play tough.
In this September 2021 photo, Warsaw residents place candles before the national Border Guards Headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, as a sign of mourning for four migrants found dead a few days earlier along the border between Poland and Belarus.
(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
The European Union is attempting to portray eastern European countries as racists infringing upon the human rights of refugees. But it’s the EU itself that’s primarily to blame for the refugee crisis.
Hopes for a better future?
Maxim Guchek/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images
European leaders have accused Belarus of using civilians as weapons along the EU border in a ‘hybrid war’. And Russia, they say, is the mastermind behind it.
Recent actions against critics of the Belarusian government show that Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent is extending beyond the country’s borders.
Biden is expected to confront Russian leader Vladimir Putin (center) over his stalwart backing of Europe’s last dictator, Alexander Lukashenko (left).
From left to right: Sergei Ilyin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images and Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Some tension was inevitable at the June 16 US-Russia summit. But Vladimir Putin’s defiant support for Belarus’s rogue regime now pits him harder against the West.
Associate Professor of Instruction in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, Affiliate Professor at the Institute for Russian, European, and Eurasian Studies, University of South Florida
Professor in Law and Co-Convener National Security Hub (University of Canberra) and Research Fellow (adjunct) - The Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa, Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University- NATO Fellow Asia-Pacific, University of Canberra