Review And Outlook Of The Belarus-Russia Relationship

Both Belorussian and Russian originated from East Slavs,they shared the same religion,doctrine,culture and history.The west Belarus is near to Poland,the northwest Belarus share the same border with Latvia and Lithuania,the northeast Belarus share the same border with Russia and the south with Ukraine,therefore,the geopolitical location of Belarus is very important.Due to its geopolitical meaning,Belarus played the role of being the interchange for Russia empire.Because of different reasons,Belarus had never become a national country.From 14^thcentury on,Belarus had been colony to Lithuania and Poland,it had ever been occupied by Germany twice.The long history of being colony to other countries,the frequent change of the territory and religion of Belarus made the Belarus character unique featuring strong tolerance and flexibility,under this environment,it was difficult for Belarus to construct strong national recognition,consequently,it was dependent.When Belarus joined the Soviet Union,in law,Belarus was a national country,in fact,it was not a national country.The economy of Belarus developed well in the framework of the Soviet Union.Due to its lack of minal materials and energy,Belarus bought them from Russia at low prices,its advanced mechanical production and metallurgical industry had been formed under the policy of the division of industry of the Soviet Union,therefore,Belarus was honored as the workshop of the Soviet Union.Belarus became a independent country in 1991,its relationship with Russia changed from advocating independency,neutrality,denuclearization and openness with national security and economy-oriented into making alliance with Russia.With the eastern enlargement of both NATO and EU,the integration of Belarus and Russia is in the direction of the foundaton of the Belarus-Russia union.The organization of the union is supranational in law.When color revolutinos happened in some CIS countries,the political and economic cooperation between Belarus and Russia has been strengthened a lot.Because of its weak economic dependency,its small-sized territory and low-level economy,the non-recognition by western countries,all these factors contribute to Belarus` inferiority to Russia in strategy,in a word,Belarus is at the mercy of Russia.Owe to the fact that western countries regard Russia as a potential opponent has not changed,the United States wants to equip east Europe with missles to weaken Russia`s ability to act against western countries,in a sense,Belarus could negotiate with Russia to maximize its national intersets by taking advantage of its strategic importance to Russia.Belarus quarrelled with Russia over the price of oil and gas,but,Belarus could not turn to western countries due to its national conditions,Russia could not give up Belarus which has been its brother country for a long time,it still supports Belarus continously.In terms of the the relationship between the two countries in the future,Russia will try its best to prevent Belarus from happening color revolution.With the presidential election in 2011 upcoming for Belarus,the relationship between the two countries has remained uncertainty.