How Sovereign Is Sovereign Belarus Still?

Belarus’s dependence on Russia has increased with every passing year, and with the start of the war in Ukraine the country’s independence has come under threat altogether, experts interviewed by DW say.

The political crisis of 2020 and the attempt to resolve it exclusively by force led the Belarusian authorities to place their bet solely on Russia, ceding part of their sovereignty to it, says Andrei Kazakevich, director of the Political Sphere Institute: “Foreign policy was effectively the victim; there is no positive dynamic not only in relations with the West, but also with most other countries.

We have also lost autonomy in security matters: the ability to decide whether Russian troops will be here, how to develop the security sector and the military sphere — all of this is under Moscow’s influence.”

There are also problems in the information sphere. “Previously there was more local content, and views on world events had a Belarusian specificity, although one can debate what those views were.

But now Belarusian state media increasingly reproduce Russian narratives.

Information sovereignty has been lost to a significant extent,” Kazakevich believes.

What threatens Belarusian sovereignty?

Discussing what currently threatens Belarusian sovereignty, Andrei Kazakevich names, in addition to the Russian factor, the authorities’ attempts to create a split in society.https://www.dw.com/ru/naskolko-eshhe-suverenna-suverennaja-belarus/a-61247721#
Andrei Kazakevich
“It must be said that Belarusian society, despite all its problems, is fairly monolithic.

But after 2020, dangerous tendencies appeared in the authorities’ policy, when they began calling their opponents traitors and enemies (https://www.dw.com/ru/pravozashhitniki-soobshhajut-o-sotnjah-zaderzhanij-na-protestah-v-belarusi/a-60937992), depriving them of any incentive to cooperate with state structures in any way, generating a long-term internal conflict and weakening society as a whole.”

According to the political scientist, this reduces society’s ability to consolidate in defense of sovereignty and independence.

Read in full (https://www.dw.com/ru/naskolko-eshhe-suverenna-suverennaja-belarus/a-61247721)