Politics of Belarus
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The Byelorussian SSR was one of only two Soviet republics to be separate members of the United Nations (the other being the Ukrainian SSR). Both republics and the Soviet Union joined the UN when the organization was founded in 1945.

Prior to 2001

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, at which time Belarus gained its independence, Belarus became a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), NATO's Partnership for Peace, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. The adoption by Supreme Council of the BSSR of the declaration of State Sovereignty of Belarus in 1990 was a turning point on the development of the state. It has also been in a supranational union with Russia since 2 April 1996, although this has had little practical effect.

Belarus–Russia relations

The introduction of free trade between Russia and Belarus in mid-1995 led to a spectacular growth in bilateral trade, which was only temporarily reversed in the wake of the financial crisis of 1998. President Alexander Lukashenko sought to develop a closer relationship with Russia. The framework for the Union of Russia and Belarus was set out in the Treaty on the Formation of a Community of Russia and Belarus (1996), the Treaty on Russia-Belarus Union, the Union Charter (1997), and the Treaty of the Formation of a Union State (1999). The integration treaties contained commitments to monetary union, equal rights, single citizenship, and a common defence and foreign policy.

Belarus–European Union relations

Following the recognition of Belarus as an independent state in December 1991 by the European Community, EC/EU-Belarus relations initially experienced a steady progress. The signature of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in 1995 signaled a commitment to political, economic and trade cooperation. Some assistance was provided to Belarus within the framework of the TACIS programme and also through various aid programs and loans. However, progress in EU-Belarus relations stalled in 1996 after serious setbacks to the development of democracy, and the Drazdy conflict.

The EU did not recognize the 1996 constitution, which replaced the 1994 constitution. The Council of the European Union decided against Belarus in 1997: The PCA was not concluded, nor was its trade-related part; Belarusian membership in the Council of Europe was not supported; bilateral relations at the ministerial level were suspended and EU technical assistance programs were frozen.

Acknowledging the lack of progress in relation to bilateral relations and the internal situation following the position adopted in 1997, the EU adopted a step-by-step approach in 1999, whereby sanctions would be gradually lifted upon fulfillment of the four benchmarks set by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In 2000, some moderately positive developments toward the implementation of recommendations made by the OSCE AMG were observed but were not sufficient in the realm of access to fair and free elections.

Belarus–United States relations

The United States has encouraged Belarus to conclude and adhere to agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the program of macroeconomic stabilization and related reform measures, as well as to undertake increased privatization and to create a favorable climate for business and investment. Although there has been some American direct private investment in Belarus, its development has been relatively slow given the uncertain pace of reform. An Overseas Private Investment Corporation agreement was signed in June 1992 but has been suspended since 1995 because Belarus did not fulfill its obligations under the agreement.

Belarus is eligible for Export-Import Bank short-term financing insurance for U.S. investments, but because of the adverse business climate, no projects have been initiated. The IMF granted standby credit in September 1995, but Belarus has fallen off the program and did not receive the second tranche of funding, which had been scheduled for regular intervals throughout 1996.

The United States - along with the European Union - has restricted the travel of President Alexander Lukashenko and members of his inner circle, as well as imposing economic sanctions.^[1]

Present situation (2001 onwards)

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (May 2021)

Relations with the European Union

The structure of Belarus trade reflects the low competitiveness and output decline of manufacturing industry in the country over the past decade, leading to the predominance of primary production, work-intensive goods as exports. Belarusian exports to the EU consist mainly of agricultural and textile products, while imports from the EU are primarily machinery.

Belarus is a beneficiary of the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). The European Commission decided in 2003 to initiate an investigation into violations of freedom of association in Belarus as the first step towards a possible temporary withdrawal of the GSP from Belarus.

In December 2004, the EU adopted a position aimed at imposing travel restrictions on officials from Belarus responsible for the fraudulent parliamentary elections and referendum on 17 October 2004, and for human rights violations during subsequent peaceful political demonstrations in Minsk. The European Parliament released a statement in March 2005 in which it denounced the Belarusian government as a dictatorship. The European parliamentarians were primarily concerned about the suppression of independent media outlets in the country and the fraudulent referendum. A resolution of the European Parliament declared that the personal bank accounts of President Lukashenko and other high-ranking Belarusian officials should be tracked and frozen.

In 2005, Amnesty International reported a pattern of deliberate obstruction, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in Belarus. Reporters Without Borders accused the Belarusian authorities of hounding and arresting journalists from the country's Polish minority. Lukashenko has closed the country's main Polish newspaper, printing a bogus paper instead with the same name and size that praises his incumbent government. Several foreign, mainly Polish, journalists have been arrested or expelled from the country. Lukashenko accused Poland of an attempt to overthrow his government by stirring up a peaceful revolution in Belarus comparable to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004.

Later in 2005 the Belarusian riot police seized the headquarters of the Union of Poles in Belarus, an association representing the 400,000 ethnic minority Polish living in western areas the country that were part of Poland until World War II. The dispute between Poland and Belarus escalated further as Poland responded by recalling its ambassador from Belarus for indefinite consultations, and called on the European Union to impose sanctions on the Belarusian leadership in order to curtail the human rights abuses in Belarus. Belarusian papers described this as a 'dirty political game', and part of a 'cold war' waged on president Lukashenko. Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld said a clampdown was under way, aimed at destroying "all elements of political pluralism and independence" in Belarus.

Members of the Eastern Partnership

In August 2005 the EU's executive commission called for human rights to be respected in Belarus. The commission said it was considering offering support to independent media in the country and had set aside more than eight million euros from its budget to offer support for human rights activities. France expressed her solidarity with Poland on the issue of human rights in Belarus a day after the EU declared it was worried about the situation in that country. Several former Soviet Republics, including neighbouring Ukraine, also expressed their concerns about the development of the situation in Belarus.

In May 2009 Belarus and the EU agree on cooperation in the Eastern Partnership (EaP). However, it is contended by some scholars that the (EaP) is unable to create a workable partnership.^[2] This proved to be correct when Belarus withdrew from the Partnership on 30 September 2011.^[3]

In August 2012, Belarus expelled all Swedish diplomats, including the Swedish Ambassador to Belarus, Stefan Eriksson, and closed its embassy in Stockholm, after a Swedish public relations firm released teddy bears carrying pro-democracy flyers in parachutes from an airplane over Minsk on 4 July 2012. Lukashenko also fired his air defence chief and the head of the border guards over the incident. Their replacements have been told not to hesitate to use force to stop future intrusions from abroad.^[4]

Relations with Russia

Russia remains the largest and most important partner for Belarus both in the political and economic fields. After protracted disputes and setbacks, the two countries' customs duties were unified in March 2001 but the customs controls were soon restored. In terms of trade, almost half of Belarusian export goes to Russia. Due to the structure of Belarusian industry, Belarus relies heavily on Russia both for export markets and for the supply of raw materials and components.

After initial negotiation with the Russian Central Bank on monetary union, the Russian ruble was set to be introduced in Belarus in 2004, but this was postponed first until 2005, then until 2006, and now seems to have been suspended indefinitely.

Relations with the United States

Belarus has had an ongoing discussion to relaunch IMF-backed reforms, concluding an arrangement for an IMF Staff-monitored program (SMP) in 2001. However, the authorities did not follow through with reforms as hoped, leaving an uncertain future for IMF-backed cooperation. Belarus authorities have said on several occasions that they find IMF intervention and recommendations in Belarus counter-productive to the economic development of those countries. The relationships with the United States have been further strained, after Congress of the United States unanimously passed the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004.

On 7 March 2008 the government of Belarus ejected US Ambassador Karen B. Stewart from the country, following a row over travel restrictions placed on President Lukashenko and sanctions against state-owned chemical company Belneftekhim. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced at the same time that it was recalling its own ambassador to the US. This was followed by the expulsion of ten other U.S. embassy staff from Minsk in late April. At the same time the government of Belarus ordered the U.S. Embassy in Minsk to cut its staff by half.^[5][6][7] A White House spokesman described the expulsion as "deeply disappointing".

Relations with other countries

Due to strained relations with the United States and the European Union, as well as occasional high-level disputes with Russia over prices on core imported natural resources such as oil and gas, Belarus aims to develop better relations with countries in other regions like Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.^[8]

Hong Kong national security law

Belarus was one of 53 countries, that in June 2020, backed the Hong Kong national security law at the United Nations.^[9]

Diplomatic relations

Diplomatic relations of Belarus

List of countries which Belarus has diplomatic relations with:

#	Country	Date
1	Ukraine	27 December 1991[10]
2	United States	28 December 1991[11]
3	Lithuania	30 December 1991[12]
4	Australia	9 January 1992[13]
5	Mexico	14 January 1992[14]
6	Sweden	14 January 1992[15]
7	China	20 January 1992[16]
8	Mongolia	24 January 1992[17]
9	Vietnam	24 January 1992[18]
10	France	25 January 1992[19]
11	Japan	26 January 1992[20]
12	Portugal	26 January 1992[21]
13	United Kingdom	27 January 1992[22]
14	Chile	January 1992[23]
15	Egypt	1 February 1992[24]
16	North Korea	3 February 1992[25]
17	Denmark	4 February 1992[26]
18	Norway	4 February 1992[27]
19	Austria	5 February 1992[28]
20	Brazil	10 February 1992[29]
21	Liechtenstein	10 February 1992[30]
22	South Korea	10 February 1992[31]
23	Switzerland	10 February 1992[32]
24	Hungary	12 February 1992[33]
25	Spain	13 February 1992[34]
26	Romania	14 February 1992[35]
27	Bangladesh	21 February 1992[36]
28	Finland	26 February 1992[37]
29	Poland	2 March 1992[38]
30	Greece	5 March 1992[39]
31	Malaysia	5 March 1992[40]
32	Belgium	10 March 1992[41]
33	Germany	13 March 1992[42]
34	Netherlands	24 March 1992[43]
35	Turkey	25 March 1992[44]
36	Bulgaria	26 March 1992[45]
37	Israel	26 March 1992[46]
38	Ireland	27 March 1992[47]
39	Guinea	4 April 1992[48]
40	Estonia	6 April 1992[49]
41	Latvia	7 April 1992[50]
42	Cyprus	9 April 1992[29]
43	New Zealand	9 April 1992[51]
44	Italy	13 April 1992[52]
45	Canada	15 April 1992[53]
46	Cuba	16 April 1992[54]
47	Zimbabwe	16 April 1992[55]
48	India	17 April 1992[56]
49	Ghana	5 May 1992[57]
50	Morocco	8 May 1992[29]
51	Kuwait	25 May 1992[58]
52	Equatorial Guinea	May 1992[59]
53	Cabo Verde	4 June 1992[60]
54	Thailand	21 June 1992[61]
55	Costa Rica	24 June 1992[62]
56	Russia	25 June 1992[63]
57	Uruguay	7 July 1992[29]
58	Luxembourg	9 July 1992[64]
59	Oman	23 July 1992[65]
60	Slovenia	23 July 1992[66]
61	Burundi	24 July 1992[67]
62	Nigeria	3 August 1992[68]
63	Singapore	12 August 1992[69]
64	Kazakhstan	16 September 1992[70]
65	Croatia	25 September 1992[71]
66	United Arab Emirates	20 October 1992[72]
67	Argentina	6 November 1992[29]
-	Holy See	11 November 1992[73]
68	Paraguay	18 November 1992[29]
69	Moldova	19 November 1992[74]
70	Bosnia and Herzegovina	22 November 1992[75]
71	Burkina Faso	25 November 1992[76]
72	Colombia	9 December 1992[29]
73	Czech Republic	5 January 1993[77]
74	Slovakia	14 January 1993[78]
75	North Macedonia	20 January 1993[79]
76	Kyrgyzstan	21 January 1993[80]
77	Turkmenistan	21 January 1993[81]
78	Uzbekistan	21 January 1993[82]
79	Malta	16 February 1993[83]
80	South Africa	4 March 1993[84]
81	Guatemala	11 March 1993[29]
82	Iran	18 March 1993[85]
83	Ecuador	5 May 1993[29]
84	Albania	17 May 1993[86]
85	Madagascar	28 May 1993[87]
86	Armenia	11 June 1993[88]
87	Azerbaijan	11 June 1993[89]
88	Indonesia	18 June 1993[90]
89	Nepal	19 July 1993[29]
90	Syria	26 August 1993[91]
91	Zambia	13 October 1993[92]
92	Mali	3 November 1993[93]
93	Kenya	17 November 1993[94]
94	Maldives	6 December 1993[29]
95	Georgia	6 January 1994[95]
96	Pakistan	3 February 1994[96]
97	Laos	7 February 1994[97]
98	Bolivia	11 April 1994[98]
99	Ethiopia	18 May 1994[99]
100	Nicaragua	24 May 1994[100]
101	Jamaica	6 June 1994[29]
102	Serbia	15 November 1994[101]
103	Cambodia	25 January 1995[29]
104	Angola	24 April 1995[29]
105	Yemen	7 August 1995[102]
106	Algeria	24 October 1995[103]
107	Qatar	16 January 1996[29]
108	Lebanon	21 March 1996[104]
109	Philippines	22 May 1996[105]
110	Tanzania	23 May 1996[106]
111	Bahrain	1 July 1996[29]
112	Libya	9 July 1996[107]
113	Tajikistan	5 September 1996[108]
114	Jordan	15 October 1996[29]
115	Gabon	5 December 1996[109]
116	Iraq	26 December 1996[110]
117	Tunisia	29 January 1997[111]
118	Venezuela	4 February 1997[29]
119	Peru	19 February 1997[112]
120	Saudi Arabia	6 June 1997[113]
121	Eritrea	11 September 1998[114]
122	Ivory Coast	30 September 1998[29]
123	Uganda	2 October 1998[115]
124	Panama	22 October 1998[29]
125	Afghanistan	15 June 1999[116]
126	Sudan	15 July 1999[117]
127	El Salvador	25 October 1999[29]
128	Haiti	29 October 1999[29]
129	Guyana	25 February 2000[29]
130	Mozambique	29 February 2000[29]
131	Antigua and Barbuda	18 May 2000[29]
132	Grenada	31 May 2000[29]
133	Belize	4 August 2000[118]
134	Saint Lucia	25 August 2000[29]
135	Myanmar	22 September 2000[29]
136	Sri Lanka	20 November 2000[119]
137	Namibia	21 December 2000[120]
138	Dominican Republic	18 April 2001[29]
139	Iceland	25 May 2001[29]
140	Benin	21 June 2001[121]
141	Malawi	13 July 2001[29]
142	Chad	20 August 2001[122]
143	Nauru	12 September 2001[29]
144	Seychelles	4 October 2001[29]
145	Sao Tome and Principe	11 December 2001[29]
146	Senegal	25 January 2002[29]
147	Republic of Congo	11 February 2002[123]
148	Rwanda	25 February 2002[29]
149	Gambia	10 April 2002[29]
150	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	24 April 2002[29]
151	Honduras	20 May 2002[29]
152	Guinea-Bissau	27 September 2002[124]
153	Brunei	4 November 2002[29]
154	Mauritius	26 September 2003[29]
155	Sierra Leone	27 September 2003[29]
156	Somalia	3 October 2003[125]
157	Mauritania	6 July 2004[126]
158	Dominica	9 July 2004[127]
159	Botswana	15 March 2006[29]
160	Montenegro	8 August 2006[128]
161	Cameroon	14 November 2006[129]
162	San Marino	9 February 2009[130]
163	Suriname	2 June 2009[29]
164	Fiji	26 May 2010[29]
165	Togo	28 September 2010[29]
166	Democratic Republic of the Congo	16 November 2010[131]
167	Trinidad and Tobago	12 April 2011[29]
168	Andorra	27 September 2011[29]
169	Niger	29 March 2012[132]
170	Central African Republic	4 April 2012[29]
171	Solomon Islands	10 September 2012[29]
172	Tuvalu	12 September 2012[133]
173	Djibouti	26 August 2013[134]
174	South Sudan	3 September 2013[135]
175	Timor-Leste	1 October 2014[136]
176	Monaco	15 April 2016[137]
177	Liberia	27 April 2016[29]
178	Saint Kitts and Nevis	4 June 2016[138]
179	Bahamas	9 December 2019[139]
180	Barbados	10 December 2019[140]
181	Lesotho	2020[141]

Bilateral relations

Multilateral

Organization	Formal Relations Began	Notes
European Union		See Belarus–European Union relations
NATO		See Belarus–NATO relations

Africa

Copyright.sk © 2024

Country	Formal Relations Began	Notes
Angola	1995-04-24	Bilateral relations were established on 24 April 1995.[142] Angola is accredited to Belarus from its embassy in Russia.[142] Belarus is accredited to Angola from its embassy in South Africa.[142]
Ethiopia	1994-05	Diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in May 1994.[143] Belarus had an embassy in Addis Ababa, which opened in 2013 and closed in 2018.[144][145][needs update]
Kenya	1993-11-17