Belarus' Foreign Policy in a time of crisis

As with the rest of the world, Belarus has been affected by the global economic crisis.

However, the main consequences for the country were less economic, but rather

political in nature. Although closely connected with Russia, it was not the spillover

of the crisis, such as the reduction in its hitherto ‘miraculous’ levels of

economic growth to almost nothing in one year, that hit Belarus hard. Instead, it was

Russia’s deliberate politics of ‘pragmatization’, directed at its ‘near abroad’ to

facilitate compliance of and interdependence with its neighbours, which dramatically

altered Belarus’s foreign policy landscape. The two principal corollaries of the

global crisis for Belarus therefore included the new and irreversible search (successful

or otherwise) for diversification away from Russia, and the reinvigorated sense of

sovereignty with which Belarus now attempts to rebuild itself domestically and

internationally.