belarus-russia relations

On 25 April 2013 Tatsiana Matoryna, Director of the Brest Stocking Plant — one of the largest apparel industry companies in the former Soviet Union— blamed sharp decreases in the plant’s sales on Belarus’ economic integration with Russia and Kazakhstan.

The accusation has serious grounds: in 2013, the volume of sales from the plant decreased by about 30% compared...

On 17 April 2013 Standard and Poor's upgraded its outlook on Belarus sovereign rating from stable to positive.  According to the agency, strengthening economic stability was brought  on by tightened monetary and fiscal policies. 

The beneficial change means more than a pleasant evaluation of the country’s performance, but also a signal to foreign investors...

On 19 April Alexander Lukashenka delivered his annual address to the nation and parliament. For more than three hours he has been speaking about priorities on his current political and economic agenda and answered MPs’ questions.

Economic modernization, privatisation and relations with the EU and Russia featured at the top of his agenda. All the topics went under an unusual...

The Lukashenka administration has lately reached out to European leaders in a purported attempt to reach common ground. Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei initiated numerous consultations with European policymakers during the last three months. 

Makei will also be meeting with his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkēvičs, on 10 April while Deputy Foreign...

The unexpected death of Boris Berezovsky has moved his relations with the Belarusian authorities into the spotlight. Over the past 15 years Boris Berezovsky regularly appeared in Belarusian politics. Analysts are even discussing a possible friendship between Boris Berezovsky and Alexander Lukashenka.

In the 1990s, Berezovsky persuaded Lukashenka to release Russian journalists from...

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkadiy Dvorkovich visited Minsk on an official visit in February. A number of experts believe that in the near future, Lukashenka's regime will make important concessions to Russia and sell major enterprises to Russian companies in exchange of favourable terms of supply of crude oil from Russia.

According to them, Dvorkovich came to Minsk as a...

The planned Belarusian-Russian joint military drill, “West 2013”, has stirred up NATO member countries. The armed forces of both countries will hold the drill in the autumn, while some Polish and Lithuanian politicians have already discussed the threat of war.

Alexander Lukashenka said on 21 February that “Belarus and Russia are not going to threaten anyone”....

Belarus assumed the presidency in the Commonwealth of the Independent States (CIS) on 1 January 2013. This is the international organisation which was intended to replace the Soviet Union in 1991.

For politicians who formed their vision in the Soviet Union, the CIS remains a substitute of the former empire, although the organisation's existence serves little practical...

On 31 December 2012 Alexander Lukashenka announced that Belarus had become "a space nation". In other words, it had entered a club of countries having their own guided objects in space.

The Belarusian ruler meant the launch of the first Belarusian satellite that took place on 22 July 2012 at the Baikonur cosmodrome. But many consider  the launch to be little more than a...

650 thousand Chinese will be building an industrial park near Minsk and they have already obtained working visas. 

Yaraslau Ramanchuk – an ex-candidate for Belarusian presidency – has received this information from his own sources of information. Gazeta.ru, major Russian online media, also mentioned a similar figure which it obtained from government...