Leiden University Student Repository

Moshes, Elizaveta (2017)

Alternativeless Rake Treading: Explaining the Lack of Change in Belarusian Foreign Policy after the Annexation of Crimea

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

This work studies the Russia-Belarus and EU-Belarus relations in the post-Crimean period with the aim of explaining why after the initial steps away from the Russian influence in the early 2014, Belarus eventually decided to return back. Belarus shares many key characteristics with Crimea, creating a potential threat to Belarusian sovereignty and narrowing down the possible scope of maneuvering for Belarus in the post-Crimean age. Thus, initially a thaw was noted between Belarus and the EU. The factors studied in this thesis are economics, public opinion trends, political trends as well as the perceptive of Lukashenka himself. These factors demonstrate that at this moment, unless various economic and political reforms take place, Belarus yields more from a closer relationship with Russia as Moscow can and is willing to offer more incentives than Brussels. The study follows the act of balance framework, which explains any derivations from the Russia direction as attempts at maximum...Show moreThis work studies the Russia-Belarus and EU-Belarus relations in the post-Crimean period with the aim of explaining why after the initial steps away from the Russian influence in the early 2014, Belarus eventually decided to return back. Belarus shares many key characteristics with Crimea, creating a potential threat to Belarusian sovereignty and narrowing down the possible scope of maneuvering for Belarus in the post-Crimean age. Thus, initially a thaw was noted between Belarus and the EU. The factors studied in this thesis are economics, public opinion trends, political trends as well as the perceptive of Lukashenka himself. These factors demonstrate that at this moment, unless various economic and political reforms take place, Belarus yields more from a closer relationship with Russia as Moscow can and is willing to offer more incentives than Brussels. The study follows the act of balance framework, which explains any derivations from the Russia direction as attempts at maximum short-term gains rather than long-term changes.Show less

Belarus

Russian-Belarusian relations

EU-Belarus relations

post-Crimean period

Regime survival in post-Soviet space

Act of balance

Author

Moshes, Elizaveta

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

BA International Studies

Supervisors

Bouma, Amieke

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en