The Fifth All-Belarusian People’s Assembly (ABPA) opened in Minsk, on June 22. The two-day gathering brought together 2,500 delegates representing managers from all levels of power along with publicly acclaimed “rank-and-file” workers, scientists, students, and so on (Belta.by, June 22). It is debatable why there... MORE

Many governments in the post-Soviet space fear they may be threatened by a color revolution; others are worried that they will become victims of a hybrid war. But Belarus is worried about both at the same time, something that makes it difficult for Minsk to... MORE

The Belarusian government responded in a rather conciliatory manner to the decision by President Barack Obama to extend by one more year the United States’ travel sanctions on a number of Belarusian officials (Naviny.by, June 15). Still, the press secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of... MORE

Leaders of the Belarusian opposition took part, on May 23, in the Brussels-based meeting of the European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Foreign Affairs. All of them but Tatyana Korotkevich, the 2015 presidential hopeful from the Speak the Truth campaign (STC), signed a joint statement about... MORE

The European Union and the United States are intensifying their appeals on Minsk to ensure transparency and democratic standards during the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 11. Deputy Assistant Secretaries of State Bridget Brink and Robert Berschinski traveled to Minsk on May 17–18. During their... MORE

Five and a half years after the 2010 presidential elections, which culminated in street protests, violence, police crackdowns and Western sanctions on Belarus, the intensity of both official and unofficial contacts between Minsk and the West are at an all-time high. One telling recent example... MORE

Western organizations tend to use a single set of criteria to evaluate the electoral processes and the sundry aspects of the democracy and human rights situations in various non-Western countries. Many consumers of those ratings give no second thought to this practice, implicitly believing that... MORE

Many observers have concluded that Moscow’s new $2 billion aid package to Belarus is part of a deal to allow Russia to establish a military airbase on the territory of its western neighbor. But it is increasingly clear that Belarus has no intention of allowing... MORE

On April 21, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka delivered his annual “report to the Belarusian people and the National Assembly [parliament].” When speaking about the economy, Lukashenka did not use the words “crisis” or even “decline”; yet, he recognized the country’s inadequate labor productivity and competitiveness (Tut.by,... MORE

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka paid a visit to Turkey, last week, in conjunction with the April 14–15 Istanbul meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Founded in 1969, the OIC has 57 members and holds meetings once every three years. At the Istanbul meeting,... MORE