Since the December 2010 presidential elections in Belarus, the level of drama permeating the country has been on the rise. There have been arrests and trials of prominent opposition figures, the rise and suppression of a new “silent” protest movement, a terror attack in the Minsk metro (April), growing trade imbalances and plummeting reserves resulting in a devaluation of the Belarusian ruble (May), and restricted foreign policy options stemming from Western isolation and Russian hardball tactics. Together, these developments constitute a fundamental—perhaps even insurmountable—challenge for President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994. […]
Memo #:
160
Series:
2
PDF:
PDF URL:
http://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pepm_160.pdf
