Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. It covers an area of about 200,000 square kilometres with a population of around nine million people. Often called “Europe’s last dictatorship”, Belarus is a presidential republic where executive power is concentrated in the hands of the President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994.
The country played a controversial role in the ongoing war in Ukraine, acting as a close ally of Russia. It has allowed Russian forces to use its territory as a staging ground for military operations in Ukraine, which has drawn international condemnation and contributed to Belarus facing sanctions. This isolated Belarus politically from much of the West while deepening its dependence on Moscow economically and militarily. Social and economic ties between the EU and Belarus have been also heavily impacted by the military conflict. While some old networks changed shape, others, less formalized forms of collaboration have been emerging. This investigation dives deep into those discrete links.
AI-Generated Image created by Marina Dulneva
