On August 4, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka gave a 4.5-hour-long interview to journalists representing three media outlets not run by the Belarusian state. Ranked in ascending order of their history of vociferous criticism of the Lukashenka regime, these outlets included Tut.by, Belarus’s leading privately owned news... MORE

The financial intelligence services of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have been intensively cooperating to prevent the financing of illegal armed groups, according to Vyachaslaw Reut, the head of the financial monitoring department of Belarus’ State Control Committee (KGK) (TASS, July 22). “Despite the existing political... MORE

Both certain Belarusians and some Russian analysts are convinced that Vladimir Putin’s next target will be Belarus. They have their reasons, and these reasons are compelling: Taking Belarus would give Putin a victory he has not been able to achieve in Ukraine; a move of... MORE

Recent news about Belarus has recently concentrated on three somewhat connected issues: the upcoming presidential elections, economic decline, and the activities of Moscow and the collective West vis-à-vis Minsk. On July 20, Lidia Ermoshina, chairperson of Belarus’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC), participated in a Vienna-based... MORE

The upcoming presidential campaign in Belarus is gaining momentum. This pivotal theme is being discussed against the backdrop of, and in conjunction with, two other phenomena: the ongoing economic decline and regional geopolitics. Alongside the incumbent, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, thirteen candidates applied to the Central... MORE

In his interview to Euroradio, the charge d’affaires of the European Union’s delegation in Belarus, Richard Rudolph, underlined the gradual improvement in the relationship between the EU and Belarus. But he also made the following observation regarding Belarus’s willingness to have good relations with both... MORE

The Belarusian parliament endorsed a new date for the upcoming presidential elections: October 11. It is unlikely that shifting elections from November (as originally planned) to October will make a difference either in terms of negative trends in the economy or in terms of the... MORE

Belarus’s survival and further development in a tough neighborhood is conditioned by the economy, a sense of nationalism, and geopolitical maneuvering between the major centers of power, Russia and the collective West. According to Yury Drakakhrust of Tut.by and Radio Liberty, the new geopolitical situation... MORE

Not too long ago, Belarusian identity used to be a topic of purely academic interest. But today, publications devoted to this subject appear like from a horn of plenty. Not only do they show up frequently (see EDM, June 18, for two earlier examples), they... MORE

The chairwoman of the Central Electoral Commission of Belarus, Lidia Ermoshina, has proposed to conduct the upcoming presidential elections on October 11—that is, more than one month earlier than the previously set date of November 15. The official explanation of this shift has to do... MORE