Why is the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko Supporting Russia?
Putin offered financial and military assistance to Lukashenko in order to put an end to the protests, but there was a little international backlash.
Foreign nations were also advised not to meddle in Belarus’ affairs, according to Putin. Lukashenko’s confidence and sense of security were reinforced by this assurance.
Belarus is a 9.4 million-strong former Soviet country that shares borders with Russia and Ukraine, as well as Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland.
Lukashenko has spent nearly three decades trying to strike a balance between his ties to the West and Putin. However, Lukashenko’s recent presidential election marked a watershed moment in his relationship with Putin.
Belarus’ president, Alexander Lukashenko, has since allowed the aggressor’s planes to take off from his country’s airports, changed the constitution to allow the hosting of Russian strategic nuclear weapons
And been accused by the Ukrainian parliament of moving forces into Chernihiv, despite having already welcomed 30,000 Russian soldiers for military drills in the run-up to Mr. Putin declaring war a week ago.
The United Nations General Assembly voted a resolution criticizing Russia’s war on Wednesday, with only five countries expressing support: Russia, North Korea, Syria, Eritrea, and Belarus.
When asked on Sunday about the possibility of Belarus becoming a Russian nuclear outpost for the first time since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989,
Mr. Lukashenko warned western allies against military intervention in Ukraine, saying, “If you transfer nuclear weapons to Poland or Lithuania, to our borders, then I will turn to Putin to return the nuclear weapons that I gave away without any conditions.”
Belarus has been subjected to a series of international economic sanctions since 2020, further alienating Lukashenko from the West.
On March 2, 2022, the European Union and the United States issued a fresh set of sanctions against Belarus, limiting technological and potential war material exports.
The absence of international reaction to Putin’s behavior, along with economic hardship, moved Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko even closer to the Kremlin.
As a result, Lukashenko’s capacity to take an independent or neutral stance on the war is constrained.
