Belarus (or the Republic of Belarus) is a small state in Eastern Europe. It is located at the western borders of Russia, north of Ukraine. This country is quite densely populated. The number of inhabitants is 9 million 491 thousand 823 people. The area of the territory is 207,600 km2. The population density is 47.89 people/km2. The official languages are Russian and Belarusian.
Alexander Lukashenko has been the President of the Republic of Belarus for a long time. He first took office on July 20, 1994. Belarus is a unitary state divided into six regions. The city of Minsk has a special status. The most important direction of foreign policy is the international relations of Belarus and Russia.
Relations between Belarus and other countries
Relations between Belarus and other countries can be described as strained. They balance between EU interests andrequirements of the Customs Union with Russia. Western countries are actively interfering in the country's politics, trying to draw Belarus into their sphere of influence. The imposition of sanctions damages the relations of this state with the EU countries, leading to economic losses on the Belarusian side. The most severe restrictions are imposed on Lukashenka himself and members of his entourage. Against this background, relations between Belarus and Russia look much more peaceful.
Belarus has good relations with China. However, economic ties with this country are difficult due to the large distance between the countries and the lack of common borders.
Economy of Belarus
Belarusian economic model differs significantly from European and Russian. It retained the features of the socialist order. The state controls almost all spheres of economic activity. Price regulation is also handled by the central government. This makes the country's economy quite stable.
There is an acute shortage of fuel resources on the territory of the republic, as a result of which they have to be imported. Favorable climatic conditions contribute to the development of agriculture. Also, the country has developed engineering, energy, production of building materials, chemical, timber industry, construction.
Imports are significantly higher than exports due to lack of resources. The difference between them is 5.8 billion dollars. Another disadvantage of the economy is the large amount of external debt. Just onmaintenance of interest payments takes up to 10% of the republican budget. GDP growth rate is not high.
Industry and agriculture of Belarus
The share of industry in the structure of GDP is 37%. These are mainly manufacturing industries. The country exports fertilizers, oil products, machinery, food and chemicals.
Agriculture is dominated by farming and dairy farming. Mostly potatoes, wheat, sugar beets are grown. Timber harvesting, once a big deal, is now insignificant.
Feature of relations between Russia and Belarus
Interactions between the two countries are very active. Despite various frictions and difficulties, Russian-Belarusian relations have the character of union cooperation. In December 1999, the Treaty on the Formation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus appeared. But already during the 90s, allied ties were formed between the two countries. To date, there are over 160 different treaties and agreements of a bilateral nature. In addition to them, there are also multilateral agreements within the framework of the CSTO, the CIS, the EAEU.
Political relations between Russia and Belarus are of great importance for both states. The strategic union is one of the priorities in the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. There are active bilateral contacts between the authorities of the two countries, confirming the interest of the parties in resolving disputes and establishing a close partnership. Particularly in 2016the presidents of the two countries held 7 meetings, and there were even more between the heads of government. In 2017, the presidents have already met 8 times. One of the last meetings between V. Putin and A. Lukashenko took place on May 14, 2018 in the city of Sochi. In the summer of 2018, Alexander Lukashenko visited the World Cup, which was held in Moscow.
In addition to high-level meetings, there are active contacts between various ministries and departments.
Reasons for close contact
The strategic nature of relations between Moscow and Minsk is due to the geopolitical position of the Republic of Belarus, as well as partnerships that have developed since the Soviet Union. Belarus is located between Russia and the EU, and for this reason it is important both for our country and for the West. Europe wants to extend its influence to the east, to the borders of Russia, while Russia is trying to counteract this in every possible way. The loss of relations with this state and its transition to EU jurisdiction is extremely unfavorable for Russia. This would weaken our country's influence in the west of the Eurasian continent and increase the risk of NATO expansion eastwards.
For Belarus, the deterioration of relations with Russia would mean a decrease in the political protection of the Lukashenka regime and a great risk of color revolutions on the territory of this country. The country's economy would also suffer serious losses. This is due to the lack of natural resources in Belarus, which it is forced to buy from Russia. The export of Belarusian products to our country is also significant. Gaprelations with Russia would lead to a trade collapse, since it will not be easy to redirect products to the EU countries. In particular, due to higher environmental standards and product quality requirements in the European Union. As a result, this would lead to an increase in external debt and an increase in the risk of default, as well as a decrease in the standard of living in the country.
All this gives reason to believe that as long as the Lukashenka regime is alive, there will be good partnership relations between our countries. And various points of contention will be settled.
Trade and economic relations between Russia and Belarus
Russia is the main economic partner of Belarus. Our country accounts for exactly half of the entire Belarusian foreign trade turnover. In 2017 alone, it increased by 26% and reached $30.2 billion. Moreover, the export of Russian products to Belarus far exceeds the export of Belarusian goods to Russia. Thus, trade relations between Russia and Belarus are very significant.
Our country exports minerals, machinery, equipment, metals, chemicals, products, wood, shoes, textiles, paper there. Belarus, in turn, supplies us with products, agricultural products. materials, machinery, chemicals, wood, shoes and textiles, metals, minerals. The trade turnover between the two countries is estimated at $10.7 billion.
The investment flow from Russia to Belarus is also significant. In 2017, the Russian Federation accounted for 38% of all foreign investments in the Belarusianeconomy. In monetary terms, this is 3.7 billion dollars. Belarus did not remain in debt either: 66.9% of the total amount of deposits in the economy of other countries was invested in Russia. That's roughly $3.68 billion.
All this means the importance of economic relations between Russia and Belarus for bilateral cooperation.
Fuel and energy
The most important joint project in the economic sphere is the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, with a capacity of 2.4 GW. The first block of this station will start operating in 2019.
Even more significant for bilateral cooperation is cooperation in the fuel sector. Oil and gas enter the republic mainly from Russia. Every year, our country supplies there with approximately 21 million tons of oil and 20 billion cubic meters. m. of gas. It was supposed to increase the volume of deliveries from 2016, however, due to underpayments from the Belarusian side, this idea was initially abandoned. After negotiations and elimination of disagreements, it was again decided to increase supplies.
Military cooperation
This type of cooperation has been developing between countries since 2009. Then an agreement on military-technical cooperation was signed. Later, an agreement was signed on the joint protection of the borders and the unification of efforts in the field of air defense. Bilateral exercises are a common practice. Military equipment in Russia and Belarus is largely the same. The interaction of the two countries within the framework of the CSTO plays an important role in military cooperation.
Difficult stagesrelations
Relations between Russia and Belarus have always been close, but never perfect. They got better, they got worse. This was largely due to the divergence of views of the leaders of these countries on issues important for bilateral cooperation. Personal relations between Lukashenka and Boris Yeltsin were quite warm. It was in the 90s that the heyday of Russian-Belarusian relations fell. Financial injections into the economy of Belarus from Russia were then very large, which placed a heavy burden on the already meager Russian budget.
With the coming to power of Vladimir Putin, the nature of Russian-Belarusian relations has become more cool and pragmatic. At the same time, Putin was a supporter of the unification of Russia and Belarus into one union state, in which Lukashenka was given a very modest role as a representative of the Russian president in the Belarusian Federal District. This idea did not suit the President of Belarus, and therefore the union state was never formed. Lukashenka also refused to introduce a single currency. Relations on oil and gas were also very strained.
The future of bilateral relations
Now various projects of bilateral cooperation are being implemented. However, many are interested in the question: is it possible to break relations between Russia and Belarus in the future? No one knows the exact answer, but more likely no than yes. Lukashenka's difficult relationship with the US and EU countries does not leave him much freedom of choice. He understands this, of course, and therefore makes concessions to the Russian side. Russia is also making concessions to Belarus. Such relationships cannotcall them friendly, but they are quite reliable, since the conflicts between Belarus and the West will persist until Lukashenka's resignation.
Conclusion
Thus, relations between Russia and Belarus are very important for both countries and are part of their state policy. Despite some disagreements, they are very close and extend to different types of cooperation. Russian-Belarusian relations are unlikely to cool down during Lukashenka's rule, but after his departure, they are very likely to worsen.
