On April 26, the so-called “Chernobyl Way,” an annual march of Belarusians to mark the anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, took place around the world. This year, however, the march was held under a special format, as it represented not only an... MORE

Like Russia, Belarus maintains the Soviet tradition of the so-called subbotniks, days of volunteer unpaid work on weekends. During the subbotnik on April 22, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka planted trees at the Khatyn national memorial. Grigory Azaryonak, a Belarusian television personality, participated as well. Azaryonak... MORE

For two decades after the establishment of their Union State in 1999, Belarus and Russia benefited from the most integrated relationship across the post-Soviet space. Yet, many elements of further integration as laid out by the Union State treaty remained largely dormant until 2021 (see... MORE

At a recent event organized by the Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (BSRL), the topic—“Can the West Exert Influence on Lukashenka?”—was debated between two analysts. Ryhor Astapenia, one of the debaters, earlier, had issued his critical account of Western policies vis-à-vis Belarus, in... MORE

*Read Part One. As Belarus seeks to maintain its “neutral” position in Russia’s war against Ukraine, it is clear that Minsk is keen to mobilize recruits for military training and address key questions of manpower and equipment shortages (Ukrainska Pravda, February 26, March 14). In... MORE

As a relatively small country squeezed between two increasingly antagonistic centers of power, Russia and the European Union, Belarus has always stood out for its dependency on multifaceted external factors. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated this dependency and added new aspects to it. Thus,... MORE

Russia’s war against Ukraine has understandably overshadowed numerous other developments across Eastern Europe that would normally attract significant international attention. One of these is the lingering theme of bilateral integration between Belarus and Russia under the auspices of the Union State. And even with the... MORE

In the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the 14 independent states of the post-Soviet era have been forced to improvise their policies vis-à-vis the Russian Federation. These measures range from the Baltic states’ total repudiation of the Soviet experience by joining... MORE

As every cloud has a silver lining, the current situation in Belarus is no exception. Admittedly, this is hard to prove, but four recent events may have cause for some restrained optimism. First, on April 12, during his visit to Hungary, Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei... MORE

The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, with Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin behind it, now faces a far more serious threat to Russia’s position in the post-Soviet space and the Christian Orthodox world than even that posed by the achievement of autocephaly for... MORE