Russia in Global Affairs

The irony of history is that it was Lukashenko – a fighter against nationalism and a politician who promised to restore the Soviet Union – who became, in a sense, the founding father of the modern independent Belarusian state. Even within the framework of quasi-Soviet national ideology, pro-European attitudes in Belarus keep growing.

If Belarus becomes a member of the European Union, its role in Europe will differ substantially from that which is played by the “newcomers” (those admitted in 2004) today: unlike Poland or Baltic states, Belarus will be an outpost of “Old Europe” in the east of the European continent.