Russia and Belarus are known to be official allies since 1995, but in light of recent events, the relationship between the two seems to have taken a rocky turn. Belarus is currently in the middle of a migratory problem, with numerous emigrants from Syria being denied entrance to the European Union. As a solution, Russia came up with the idea to invite said emigrants into the country. Russia believes that in doing this, their economy might be benefited and the perception of them the international committee has might be positively improved. However, Russia isn’t taking into account that in doing this, it is risking the country going into crisis.
Belarus does not seem fond of the idea either, as they consider it a back-handed move from Russia. President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, sent a letter to the Russian cabinet expressing his disapproval. He accused Russia of treason, and stated that he expected more understanding towards the intentions Belarusian people have. Belarus wanted to pressure the European Union into accepting Syrians into their territory, and claimed that if Russia took the emigrants in, Belarus would loose its leverage. This resulted in Belarus stating that ”Not only will [they] block [Russia’s] efforts to withdraw refugees from the border, but [they] will also reconsider [their] relationship from this point moving forward”.
In response, Russia wrote a letter back to the Belarusian government’ in which they stated that they hoped to put the misunderstanding behind them. Having been allies for a large amount of time, Russia claimed that maintaining an amicable relationship with Belarus was of utmost importance to the nation. As of right now, Belarus is yet to issue any response.