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Tag: belarus

Democratic Belarus in the EU: here to stay

The 2020 protests in Belarus have given birth to a veritable ecosystem of institutions and NGOs within the country’s democratic forces in exile. This is particularly clear regarding the diaspora in the EU, with many members now planning further and permanent cooperation with the bloc well into the future.

October 25, 2024 - Wicke van den Broek

Russia turns to Belarus as Ukrainian offensive prevails

Moscow has increasingly pressured Minsk for help in its war against Ukraine. Belarus’s recent military exercises on its southern border have been met with continued fears over the country’s independence. It is clear that at the moment Minsk has no good options when it comes to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

October 9, 2024 - Mark Temnycky

New ways to adapt. The economies of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in the second quarter

Data from the first half of 2024 shows that all three countries affected by the war continue to show GDP growth and relative internal stability. However, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine continue to seek new ways to strengthen their economic positions.

October 8, 2024 - Kacper Wańczyk

Belarusians are the early witnesses of the re-emerging Iron Curtain

Belarusians undertake a desperate quest for Schengen visas amidst persisting mass repressions and Russian expansion.

September 26, 2024 - Andrei Vazyanau

The impact of western sanctions on Belarus

The targeted sanctions imposed on Belarus in 2022 did not take long to deliver a powerful blow to the nation's economy. The immediate aftermath was characterized by a sharp contraction, marking the onset of what economists have termed a “transformational recession”. Yet, the Lukashenka regime, bolstered by its close ties with Russia and its tight grip on domestic power structures, has so far weathered the storm.

September 20, 2024 - Hanna Vasilevich

What happened to Belarus’s once-thriving tech-industry?

Before the anti-government protests that shook Belarus in 2020, a thriving tech-industry existed in the country. Recent events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have shown that a plateau in output is all but assured for at least the next few years. Overall, it appears that the country has suffered from a severe brain drain as talented workers have fled the authoritarian state.

Belarus was once called the “Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe”. From 2005 to 2016, exports of IT services and products grew 30 times over. The share of IT exports in Belarus’s total exports of goods and services increased from 0.16 per cent to 3.25. In 2021 the IT sector was contributing almost a third of GDP growth. However, after the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, the situation changed dramatically.

September 16, 2024 - Kseniya Tarasevich

Giving a voice to those who can no longer speak

There is an ongoing "total purge" to cleanse the world of sensitive people capable of love. It is my conscious choice to engage in socio-political art. This is my feeble attempt to make a change.

September 11, 2024 - Darya (Cemra) Siamchuk

Thirty years of Lukashenka

This year marks the thirty-year anniversary of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s rule. While the Belarusian leader has been able to consolidate his power in the country, recent responses to crackdowns on the opposition suggest an uncertain future for the dictator.

August 28, 2024 - Mark Temnycky

Belarus’s political prisoner dilemma

The recent prisoner swap with Russia in early August marked the largest East-West exchange since the Cold War. Despite this, little has been said about the absence of Belarus in these agreements. A renewed effort is now needed to help the many political prisoners still held by Minsk.

August 23, 2024 - Vitali Matyshau

The Belarus of Vasil Bykaŭ is in our interest

Interview with Joanna Bernatowicz, a translator of the most important Belarusian writer of the 20th century. Interviewer: Wojciech Pokora.

July 20, 2024 - Wojciech Pokora

How Lukashenka’s regime silences the Belarusian free press

Since 2020 the Belarusian media field has lost up to ten important independent publications. Some of them did not survive the financial crisis while others were taken over by propaganda or decided to avoid covering politics. The decline in the number of independent media outlets and the difficulty in reaching audiences within the country, where consuming truthful news can result in criminal charges, affects the overall political mood in the country.

In 2023 Belarus ranked 167th out of 180 countries in press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders. Since the political protests in 2020, the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka intensified its persecution of the free press. Currently, there are 35 journalists imprisoned on criminal charges, serving sentences in prisons where they face torture and isolation from the outside world and their families. From 2020 to 2023, nearly 600 journalists and media professionals were arrested, according to Press Club Belarus.

June 22, 2024 - Darya Grishchuk

The 1863 uprising and the shared legacy of the Commonwealth

The January Uprising of 1863 was the last common struggle for the ideals of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Today, when no existential disputes exist between the independent nations of Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus, the memory of 1863 should be a stepping stone to teaching the history of the Commonwealth as a common legacy.

Earlier this year, the presidents of Poland and Lithuania, accompanied by the leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition in exile, celebrated together in Vilnius the 161st anniversary of the January Uprising. This event was fought by the nobility and intelligentsia of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the years 1863-64 against Russian imperial rule.

June 22, 2024 - Wiktor Babiński

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