President Alexander Lukashenko has, in practice, achieved and maintained sovereignty in military affairs for Belarus vis-à-vis Russia (see below). These gains—for Belarus and neighboring countries alike—are now at risk. Russia will probably renew its attempts to curtail Belarus’s military sovereignty. Playing into Moscow’s hands are Belarus’s external isolation and destabilization in the wake of its August 2020 rigged presidential election.
OP-ED
Vladimir Socor: Russia’s interests in Belarus (Part 4)
An activist places a picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a rally in support of anti-government protests in Belarus against presidential election results, in front of the Belarusian embassy in Kyiv, on August 30, 2020.
