Russia Pushes Belarus to Join Russian Federation

Once close allies, President Lukashenko has sought to distance Belarus from Russia’s President Putin as the latter’s demands intensify. (en.kremlin.ru/)

Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, denounced the Russian government after Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on merging the two states into one so-called “union state” during talks in early February. Lukashenko vowed to maintain Belarus’s independence, deepening tensions between the neighboring countries. 

The meeting between the two presidents was initiated to discuss economic integration. Belarus currently relies on Russia for more than 80 percent of its energy needs. While the talks were slated to cover integrating economies to provide an abundance of other resources to Belarus, such as tractors and automobiles, Lukashenko said that Putin insisted on an official merger instead.

Ideas of a state merger with Belarus come as no surprise after Putin’s bold State of the Union address just a month ago. In his annual speech, the president called for constitutional change that many interpreted as a way to increase his executive power before his term ends in 2024. Merging with Belarus would provide Putin with yet another means of maintaining power, as experts speculate that he would seek to lead the combined union-state after the culmination of his term as president of Russia. 

This call for merging also embodies one of Putin’s favorite foreign policy tactics: regional expansion. Russian troops continue to haunt Crimea six years after the region’s annexation, which many countries considered an act of war against Ukraine. Now, many scholars anticipate Belarus will be Putin’s next target.

Lukashenko has continued to criticize Russia since the economic advancement talks. “I will always fight for our land to remain sovereign and independent,” the Belarusian president said. “Your first president that you once elected will never be the last,” he said, alluding to his two-decade reign over Belarus atop a regime that Human Rights Watch has classified as authoritarian.

Belarus’s insistence on remaining independent has proved costly, as Russia recently halted oil supplies to the country. Lukashenko responded by turning to other countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, for alternative sources of oil.