Belarus is one of the most devoted and reliable partners of Russia in the post-Soviet space. Of course, periods of cooling occurred in relations between countries, but even then the development of the idea of a union state continued. At the end of 2018, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko unexpectedly entered into an open conflict with the Russian authorities, refusing further integration of his country and protecting its sovereignty.
Relations between the two countries
The history of the unification of Russia and Belarus lasts about 20 years, when the treaty of a union state was first concluded. Each of the parties all these years has received its advantages from this cooperation. Russia secured control over its borders with the European Union, the possibility of deploying military bases, and in recent years, under the conditions of the sanctions policy, “buffer” imports from blacklisted countries. And Belarus also made good money by supplying Russian neighbors with “local” shrimp, red fish and pineapples. And as a result of worsening relations between Russia and Ukraine, resale of oil and gas was added here.
In addition, the Minsk authorities could always count on financial support from Moscow: benefits for gas, oil and other natural resources, favorable loans, and partial cancellation of debts. Such a situation up to a certain point suited both sides. After the events in Ukraine, the Belarusian leader Lukashenko, apparently, felt a real danger to the sovereignty of the country, appreciating the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbass. In the relations of the fraternal states a semblance of cooling has been outlined.
Lukashenko began to communicate more with European neighbors, to be friends with the new Ukrainian authorities, acting as a mediator in negotiations with Russia. By the way, he refused to recognize the independence of Abkhazia, South Ossetia or the annexation of Crimea. But the Belarusian authorities cannot openly break off relations with Moscow, otherwise they will have an unenviable Ukrainian fate.
Refusal to join
Talk about the accession of Belarus to Russia went a long time. The next wave rose in 2018, when Moscow announced a reduction in the supply of petroleum products to the neighboring state, which would cause Minsk to suffer significant financial losses. Lukashenko said that he was actually being forced to gradually unite with Russia in exchange for tax breaks and other financial concessions.
The cabinet of ministers, Dmitry Medvedev, in turn, called the steps to create a common tax and equity space the next step in the integration of the two countries in the framework of the 1999 agreement on the union state. As for the economic policy of Russia, it is dictated by the difficult situation in the country, and not by the desire to force the neighboring state to join.
