Russian military base in Belarus

Belarus-Russia integration: how to avoid brotherly hugs

In early October 2018, Belarus and Russia settled the agreement about oil supplies for the remaining part of 2018 and for 2019. Unexpectedly, the Russian leadership abandoned pressure on Belarus. While in August-September, the Kremlin believed that they could...

13 June 2018

Belarus’s balancing between NATO and Russia: Squaring the circle?

Speaking in Brussels on 1 June, Belarusian foreign minister Uladzimir Makei warned that a proposed US military base in Poland would trigger a response in the region. Moreover, if tensions grow as a result, the Belarusian government could soon...

25 August 2015

Belarus Strengthens Its Air Force With Russia’s Reluctant Support

Last week, the Belarusian army newspaper Vo Slavu Rodiny published an article praising the newly received Russian warplanes. However, these Russian aircraft are a step backward compared to the equipment that Belarus already had. President Lukashenka recently publicly complained that...

4 April 2014

Will Nuclear Weapons Return to Belarus?

Last week, the Belarusian economic news portal afn.by published a story with the provocative headline “Lukashenka: The Situation with Crimea Allows Belarus to Get its Nuclear Arms Back.” It was, of course, an exaggeration – the original statement lamented over the ineffectiveness of the Budapest...

29 October 2013

Opening a Russian Fighter Planes Base in Belarus Seems Unlikely

When seeing Lukashenka in Minsk on 23 April, the Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu said that a Russian air regiment and an airbase will have been created Belarusian territory by 2015. Shoygu said that the first military planes would come...

6 September 2013

Russia Refuses To Supply Weapons To Belarus

On 20 August, Alexandr Lukashenka held a conference on the future priorities for Belarus' armed forces.He proclaimed that “while analysing recent conflicts and wars, we understood that the most important thing for...

22 July 2013

More Russian Military Bases in Belarus?

More Russian military bases may appear in Belarus soon. According to naviny.by, a Belapan news agency web site an entire aviation division may soon be deployed. This report, however, referred only to an expert from the dubious Russian “Academy...