Because the money is running out and because Russia can no longer make up the difference, Alyaksandr Lukashenka faces a situation he neither expected nor knows how to respond to, one in which not the nationalists but his own electorate has turned against him
The demonstrations in Minsk on February 17 were the largest and the most vocally anti-Lukashenka of any there since at least 2010.
By putting Russian missiles in Kaliningrad and conducting joint exercises with Belarusian forces, Vladimir Putin is creating a new “Cuban missile crisis,” one that threatens Europe and the world and that the Kremlin leader won’t end unless the West takes action to force him to back down, says Andrei Sannikov, leader of the opposition European Belarus campaign.
This is a syndicated column originally published by RFE/RL’s Brian Whitmore. One is a republic inside Russia that is formally ruled by Moscow. One is an independent country on Russia’s western frontier that has long been Moscow’s client state. Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin is accustomed to getting its way with both of them — until recently, […]
Staunton, November 9 – For Vladimir Putin, Viktor Kaspruk argues, “Ukraine is the key to a future Russia or more precisely a future Russian Empire,” and consequently, even if he has lowered the temperature in the Donbass in recent weeks, the Kremlin leader is likely to renew his attacks on Ukraine next year having first […]
Staunton, October 9 – Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s turn to the West, reflected by his expressed refusal to accept a Russian airbase on his territory and reports that the EU will be lifting some sanctions against him, has infuriated Moscow and prompted the Russian authorities to make plans to overthrow him, according to Yury Tsarik. Tsarik, a […]
Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich has won the Nobel Prize for literature, and although she writes in Russian, the “Russian World” promoters are not happy. Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. Special features: […]
Staunton, September 22 The Mensk Center for Strategic and Foreign Policy Research says that Moscow has not succeeded in gaining the agreement of the Belarusian side to the establishment of a Russian airbase in Belarus but is going ahead anyway, confident that it can push Mensk around given Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s lack of allies elsewhere. In […]
Staunton, April 27 -The 150-minute film The President about Vladimir Putin is mostly boring and predictable in that it insists that “without Vladimir Vladimirovich nothing in the country will work,” Kseniya Kirillova notes. But she points out that there are three “lessons” contained in the film that must not be ignored. First, she argues, despite […]
Staunton, April 13 — Vladimir Putin by his aggressiveness and bluster has convinced many in his country and elsewhere that he and his system are extremely strong, but in addition to the obvious comparisons many make with the often pathetic response of Western leaders, Putinism suffers from serious and incurable weaknesses, according to Kseniya Kirillova. […]
