Policy Memos
Policy Memo:
Publication Date:
Description:
Russia’s Belarus dilemma can be formulated as two questions. Should Moscow continue the process of political integration with Belarus--which necessarily entails interaction with and support of the regime of President Aleksandr Lukashenko--in order to enjoy certain geopolitical, security and economic dividends? Or, should Moscow gradually give up the current bilateral “special relationship,” which depletes Russia’s financial resources, implicitly complicates the Russian-Western agenda, and threatens to bring negative effects for future relations between the two countries should the opposition one day come to power in Belarus? [...]