A discussion of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s role in bringing Russia’s mutiny to an end continues unabated—in Minsk, among Belarusians-in-exile and among Belarus-watchers around the world. In Minsk, Lukashenka has been labeled Russia’s “savior,” whereas downplaying his role has become the fixation of the other... MORE

Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group’s aborted munity in Russia has demonstrated the weakness of the Kremlin in controlling the situation inside the country, which, as shown by the so-called “march for justice,” can rapidly deteriorate in a matter of hours. While moving toward Moscow... MORE

As the entire world watched in disbelief during the rapidly unfolding mutiny in Russia organized by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group on June 23 and 24, hardly anyone could imagine how its endgame would ultimately play out. In particular, the factor of Belarus seemed... MORE

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s putative role in reversing Yevgeny Prigozhin’s march on Moscow is now on everyone’s mind. Preempting alternative opinions, some opposition analysts have already posited that Lukashenka’s role in that saga was purely “technical” (Zerkalo, June 24). Today, Lukashenka himself offered a detailed... MORE

On June 13, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka was interviewed by Olga Skabeyeva of Russia One, a Moscow-based television channel (President.gov.by, June 14). On the eve of the interview, the Russian television crew visited Belarus’s western border where S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems are installed, later sharing... MORE

Relationships between geo-strategic aspirations and achieving value-laden results such as democracy promotion have never been easy. Due to Belarus’s cultural heterogeneity, crude geopolitics have invariably achieved more in both areas as compared with crude moralization along the lines of human rights. Thus, between 2008 and... MORE

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka may soon be repeating these words that are commonly attributed to Mark Twain. Less than two weeks after unsubstantiated rumors about Lukashenka’s health condition subsided (see EDM, May 24), a new rumor captured... MORE

The raids in the Belgorod region of Russia on May 22 and June 1 have built on the success of earlier border incursions (see EDM, May 31). Whereas the raid on Sushany in early March 2023 was carried out by a small squad of foot... MORE

Belarus’s hyper-dependency on multifaceted external factors and the role of the Russo-Ukrainian war in increasing this dependency has been further confirmed by three recent events (see EDM, April 26). First, Roman Protasevich, the former operator of the “NEXTA” Telegram channel, was recently acquitted by Belarusian... MORE

On May 18, a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization took place in Minsk. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka personally greeted the respective speakers of the member countries’ parliaments and made several statements, one of which was a suggestion that any... MORE