Belarus in Crisis

In 2020, mass anti-government protests erupted across Belarus.

The brutal crackdown that followed shocked the international community: the authorities arrested tens of thousands of citizens, shut down independent media and NGOs, and fomented a migrant crisis on the European Union's border.

But where many thought Belarus's dictator, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, would fall, he instead turned to Moscow for support, intensifying repression.

Many of his opponents fled the country. Then, in February 2022, Belarus provided a staging area for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, allowing troops and missile systems to be based on its territory as large-scale war returned to Eastern Europe once again.

Many outsiders now view Belarus as little more than a Russian military district, rather than a sovereign country.

Paul Hansbury offers a wide-ranging account of these two related crises.