Russian-Belarusian Union

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Geographical expansion of the Union

The Russian-Belarusian Union / Russian-Belarusian Union ( officially: Union State Russia and Belarus / Саюзная дзяржава Расіі і Беларусі [СДРБ] / Sajuznaja dzjarschava Rasii i Belarusi [SDRB] / Союзное государство России и Беларуси [СГРБ] / Soyuznoye gosudarstvo Rossii i Belarusi [SGRB]) is a confederation of states between Russia and Belarus , which has only been realized to a very limited extent, and which is based on a defense community , an economic community and joint political consultations.

Opposites and similarities

Russian commemorative stamp on the Union Treaty with Belarus (1996)
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The union was established by the Belarusian President Aljaksandr Lukashenka together with Boris Yeltsin . In the meantime, the integration between the two states has lost momentum due to alternating intense interest on both sides. While Yeltsin's successor Vladimir Putin has only limited interest in increased cooperation with the isolated Lukashenka, the Belarusian side has realized that the country would only be a junior partner in a close union with Russia.

The economic and geopolitical characteristics speak against an equal union of states of equal rank; in relation to its "big brother" Russia, Belarus is as follows:

  • Area: Belarus – Russia 1:85 (Russia later offered Belarus the connection as the 90th federal subject )
  • Population: Belarus – Russia 1:15 (8.3% of Belarusians are ethnic Russians )
  • GDP (total): Belarus – Russia 1:10 (the GDP per capita, however, is about the same, Belarus is one of the CIS countries with the highest GDP per capita)

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are loosely associated with the economic community in the form of the Eurasian Economic Community , and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia, along with Russia and Belarus, are members of the Defense Alliance Organization of the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO) .

The conflicts over gas prices and oil transit in particular contributed to bringing the Russian-Belarusian union efforts to a standstill for the time being.

history

Flag design for the Union state. The two stars stand for the two members. He also refers to the common history. (see flag of the Soviet Union )

The relatively small landlocked state of Belarus (about twice the size of the GDR or Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg combined, but with a population of only 10 million) has bordered Poland , Lithuania and Latvia on the European Union (EU) since 2004 but two thirds of its borders are shared with Russia and Ukraine. Since Belarus is also historically and economically oriented towards the East, soon after independence in 1991 some of its politicians began to look for ways to integrate with Russia and other successor states of the USSR.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, various attempts have been made to integrate Belarus-Russia , initially jointly by some CIS countries , for which the initiative came partly from Russia, partly from Belarus and Kazakhstan, but also partly from the new states of the Caucasus and the Turkic peoples ( Kyrgyzstan and others). This is how the Community of Integrated States (GIS) emerged within the CIS . The Ukraine is the second largest country in Eastern Europe held in this matter, apart from isolated exceptions rather reserved.

Lukashenka and Yeltsin

The first Belarusian head of state Stanislau Schuschkewitsch (1991–1994) was also open to the West. But his successor Aljaksandr Lukashenka (since 1994) only deepened the contacts to the east. He claims that he was the only member of the Belarusian Soviet to have voted against the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Immediately after his election as president, he introduced state symbols clearly reminiscent of the Soviet era, and Belarus became a member of the CSTO with some CIS states.

After a complete political turn away from Western and Central Europe , Lukashenka stopped the privatizations that had started under his predecessor , the analogues of which in Russia had led to the problems with the oligarchs that have persisted to this day , and has since been striving for a new union with Russia and other eastern states. Within the GIS, the state alliance initially known as the Community of Sovereign Republics (GSR) was agreed between Minsk and Moscow . To this end, he signed several union treaties with Boris Yeltsin between 1995 and 1999, such as the one for the Russian-Belarusian Union. It only implemented the defense and temporarily the customs union . From 2000 to 2011 the Russian politician Pavel Borodin acted as Secretary General or State Secretary of the Union.

Lukashenka and Putin

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When Yeltsin's successor Vladimir Putin took office, the climate towards Russia initially cooled, so that Belarus was now isolated towards the east. After 2001, however, President Lukashenka soon renewed his foreign policy contacts with Russia. He also gave authoritarian ruled countries such as North Korea , Libya and Sudan increased attention in his politics. This rapprochement has received stronger support from Putin since the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine .

After further initiatives for a political union, now mainly between the “ two Russian states”, Belarus and Russia made further efforts in autumn 2005 to integrate some ex-Soviet republics and to joint constitutional acts. In addition to the existing intergovernmental parliamentary assembly and a body of representatives from both governments, an (admittedly small) transnational budget was agreed. A customs agreement, according to which Russian officials are allowed to control the Belarusian-Polish border, is already in force. In addition, the Russian and who knows Russian Air Force formed a joint high command, in fact subordinate to the Belarusian air defense since the Russian Air Force .

According to Russian State Secretary Pavel Borodin, a referendum on the joint constitutional act could have been held as early as 2006. President Lukashenka was initially confident, although the basic principles were still open (competencies of the supranational Union Council, extent of equal rights of such unequal states, etc.). In 2002, Lukashenka rejected Vladimir Putin's proposal to include Belarus as the 90th province in Russia (at that time Russia had 89 regions, after various territorial reforms and the annexation of Crimea there are now 85). In a read-out speech on Belarusian television, Lukashenka complained that his country was only a junior partner in a close union with Russia. What was unusual about this address was that Lukashenka had given it in Belarusian , while he usually used Russian on official occasions.

These violent dissonances have meanwhile been considered to have been resolved, but now there are new frictions to the agreement on a common currency . This should come into force on January 1st, 2006, but no agreement could be reached on the country in which the ruble will be printed.

2006 to 2011

After repeated disagreements between Belarus and Russia in 2006/07, which revolved around the introduction of the ruble, gas prices and oil transit, the Russian-Belarusian integration was viewed by many observers as dead. After the Russian parliamentary elections in December 2007 , Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would travel to Minsk for consultations on the Union that same month . There was speculation in the press about a possible revival of the project.

In his function as chairman of the State Council of the Union, Lukashenka appointed Putin, now Prime Minister of Russia, as chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union in May 2008. Russia's new President Medvedev announced a revival of integration efforts during his inaugural visit to Belarus in June.

On May 7th, 2009 Belarus joined the Eastern Partnership together with five other CIS members at the EU summit in Prague . Russia has protested against the alliance with the European Union . The fact that Belarus has so far not followed him in recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia also caused anger in Moscow . In June 2009 the crisis worsened. After Russia stopped importing Belarusian dairy products on the grounds that they did not meet the latest Russian standards, Belarus boycotted a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization , stating that all decisions made at the meeting were invalid. As a result, Belarus temporarily reintroduced customs controls at the Belarusian-Russian border for the first time in thirteen years.

Meanwhile, in 2011, the rapprochement with the west under Lukashenka is considered to have failed. At its summit, which took place in Warsaw from September 29th to 30th, 2011 , the Eastern Partnership adopted a “Package for the Democratization and Modernization of Belarus”. If the Lukashenka regime releases political prisoners and guarantees free elections, it can fall back on loans of up to nine billion euros. Instead of moving closer to the EU, Lukashenka is relying on the help of his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin . With Russia and Kazakhstan , which are open to the Russian-Belarusian Union, the treaty on a customs union is ready to be signed. From January 2012 a preferential price for gas will apply again between the partner countries.

Other states

BulgariaBulgaria Bulgaria
Even before the Union was founded, in 1996 Russian President Yeltsin invited Bulgaria to join the Community of Integrated States , but this only angered the state.
Serbia and MontenegroSerbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro
In the shadow of the Kosovo war in 1999, the parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia announced that it would join the Russian-Belarusian Union. With the fall of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, western-oriented forces took over the government. The successor states Serbia and Montenegro are striving to join the EU. The former Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić pleaded in 2007 for Serbia to join the Union state.
Moldova RepublicRepublic of Moldova Moldova
In 2001, Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin announced his country's accession after his election. In the following years, however, he increasingly distanced himself from Moscow. In Transnistria, however, the majority of the population voted in a referendum in 2006 in favor of joining Russia. Since the parliamentary elections in April 2009 , a majority of Moldovan MPs have been striving for rapprochement with the West.
KazakhstanKazakhstan Kazakhstan
In 2007 Kazakhstan's then Prime Minister Kärim Mässimow expressed an interest in joining the Union by 2010. It is already linked to Russia and Belarus in the Eurasian Economic Community and through defense cooperation.
AbkhaziaAbkhazia Abkhazia South OssetiaSouth OssetiaSouth Ossetia 
After the Caucasus conflict in 2008 , Abkhazia and South Ossetia were recognized by Russia as independent states, which made it possible for these two areas , which are part of Georgia under international law, to join . At the beginning of September 2008, the Secretary General of the Union, Pavel Borodin, told Moscow radio station Echo Moskwy that accession of both states by the end of the year was realistic. In February 2010, Abkhazia's President Bagapsch also spoke out in favor of joining the Union.

However, the accession of other states did not get beyond the stage of announcements and speculations and are now relatively unlikely. Serbia, Montenegro and Moldova are now orienting themselves towards the European Union , to which Bulgaria already belongs. Kazakhstan, in turn, has formed the Eurasian Economic Union with the two members of the Union state as well as Armenia and Kyrgyzstan since January 1, 2015 , whereby Abkhazia and South Ossetia have also expressed interest in membership.

See also

Web links

Commons : Union of Russia and Belarus  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus: Changes in the populations of the majority ethnic groups. (No longer available online.) 2009, archived from the original on July 28, 2016 ; accessed on June 12, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.belstat.gov.by
  2. ↑ Michael Schmölzer: Minsk – Moscow: Integration with numerous obstacles. In: Wiener Zeitung Online. November 9, 2005, accessed November 28, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Putin appointed Prime Minister of the Russian-Belarusian Union. In: RIA Novosti. May 27, 2008. Retrieved July 24, 2008 .
  4. ^ Medvedev speaks of greater union of Russia and Belarus. In: Belarus News and Analysis. June 22, 2008, accessed July 24, 2008 .
  5. ↑ NEWSru.com : Минск объявил нелегитимными решения саммита ОДКБ в Москве
  6. ↑ Russia News - Minsk withdraws customs officers: Milk war is settled
  7. ↑ "Brussels wants to deepen Eastern partnership" , NZZ , October 1, 2011.
  8. ↑ “Between powerlessness and displeasure. Belarus in crisis ” , DLF , November 10, 2011.
  9. ↑ Christina Nagel: New gas contract with Belarus. Russian discount for Europe's last dictator. November 25, 2011, archived from the original on November 27, 2011 ; accessed on April 7, 2020 .
  10. ↑ President Zhelev Believes it what his duty to react. In: HR-NET. April 3, 1996, accessed December 2, 2008 .
  11. ^ Bulgaria torn by row over Kremlin alliance. In: The Independent. January 4, 1996, accessed February 24, 2010 .
  12. ^ Serbian Parliament Speaker Calls For Closer Russia Ties. In: RFE / RL. May 9, 2007, accessed September 12, 2012 .
  13. ↑ Nargiz Asadova: An interview with Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov. In: Ferghana.ru. July 4, 2007, archived from the original on August 7, 2007 ; accessed on December 2, 2008 .
  14. ↑ Abkhazia and South Ossetia may join Belarusian-Russian union, Russian lawmaker says. (No longer available online.) In: Белорусские новости. August 26, 2008, formerly in the original ; accessed on July 26, 2008 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / naviny.by  
  15. ↑ Абхазия и ЮО могут стать членами Союзного государства России и Белоруссии уже до конца года. In: NEWSru.com. September 4, 2008, Retrieved December 2, 2008 (Russian).
  16. ↑ Abkhazia wants to join the Union of Russia and Belarus. In: RIA Novosti. February 16, 2008, Retrieved February 24, 2008 (Russian).