Moscow pressuring us to merge with Russia, claims Belarus president
When the leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, signed an agreement
in 1997 to gradually enter into a union state with neighbouring Russia,
then Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the European Union appeared to
show little interest in the post-Soviet state.
Under the agreement, Belarus and Russia would adopt a shared currency, common foreign and defence policies, a common parliament, a single tax code, open borders and a commitment to back sanctions imposed by either government on another state.
In the absence of alternatives, a symbiosis with Belarus’s larger neighbour seemed like the best option.
“The EU was practically not interested in Belarus,” said Evgeny Treshchenkov, associate professor at the Department of International Relations in the post-Soviet space of St. Petersburg State University.
“[Europe] did not offer Belarus attractive alternatives, so the political elites of the country chose the most accessible and understandable option.”
But fast forward more than 20 years and the landscape has changed. The integration may still use the language of "common" policies and a "shared" currency, but Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a very different animal to Yeltsin's.
Under the agreement, Belarus and Russia would adopt a shared currency, common foreign and defence policies, a common parliament, a single tax code, open borders and a commitment to back sanctions imposed by either government on another state.
In the absence of alternatives, a symbiosis with Belarus’s larger neighbour seemed like the best option.
“The EU was practically not interested in Belarus,” said Evgeny Treshchenkov, associate professor at the Department of International Relations in the post-Soviet space of St. Petersburg State University.
“[Europe] did not offer Belarus attractive alternatives, so the political elites of the country chose the most accessible and understandable option.”
But fast forward more than 20 years and the landscape has changed. The integration may still use the language of "common" policies and a "shared" currency, but Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a very different animal to Yeltsin's.