What role does Belarus play in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Here’s what to know
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday, Feb. 27, agreed to hold talks with Russia near the border of Belarus, a close Russian ally, as Russia’s invasion in Ukraine continues, multiple news outlets reported.
The Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet without preconditions near the Pripyat River on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, Zelenskyy said in a statement, according to Aljazeera. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the country will not “give up a single inch” of territory.
“We go there (to the talks) to listen to what Russia wants to say, we are going without any … preliminary agreement on what the outcome of these talks can be. We are going there to listen and to say what we think of this war and Russia’s actions,” Kuleba said in an address Feb. 27, according to Aljazeera.
The decision marks a shift after Zelenskyy previously rejected the Kremlin’s proposal to hold talks in Belarus, arguing it is not neutral territory, The New York Times reported.
Belarus has played a key role in Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. Here’s what to know.
Belarus and the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on three fronts early Thursday, Feb. 24, “bombarding cities, towns and villages” as forces advanced toward the capital of Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that his military forces are protecting citizens in eastern Ukraine who want to rejoin Russia, BBC News reported. Zelenskyy and President Joe Biden have rejected those claims.
“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden said in a statement announcing additional sanctions against Russia.
Belarus has supported Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, McClatchy News reported.
Prior to its invasion, Russia used Belarus to stage its attack and amassed troops in the country, The New York Times reported. Some Russian troops have entered Ukraine through Belarus.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko denied that Belarusian troops have been involved in the attack but has said he will support Russian troops if necessary, TIME reported, citing Belarus state media.
“By now, his country is basically part of the Russian military space,” Jörg Forbrig, Director for Central and Eastern Europe of the German Marshall Fund, told TIME of Lukashenko, noting that Belarus has essentially surrendered its sovereignty. “It is a staging ground for the Russian army.”
The U.S. Treasury said Feb. 24 that it would be “sanctioning 24 Belarusian individuals and entities due to Belarus’s support for, and facilitation of, the invasion.”
“Treasury continues to disrupt Belarus’s military and financial capabilities through targeted sanctions,” U.S. Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement. “Further, due to the interconnectedness between the two countries, the actions Treasury took against Russia today will also impose severe economic pain on the (Lukashenko) regime.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a news conference on Feb. 25 that “the world will hold Russia and Belarus accountable for their actions,” McClatchy News reported.
“Russia as the aggressor. Belarus as the enabler,” Stoltenberg said.
About Belarus
Belarus was a member of the Soviet Union until it established independence in 1991. It borders Ukraine and Russia.
It’s about one-third of the size of Ukraine in terms of area, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, and has a population of about 9.3 million.
Russia serves as a key trade partner for Belarus, TIME reports. It also supported Lukashenko after the 2020 election in Belarus, during which Lukashenko argued he won a sixth term despite claims from “the opposition and the West” that the election was rigged, The Associated Press reported.
“I don’t see how possible it was for him to stay in power without the support of Putin,” Olga Dryndova, editor of Belarus-Analysen at the University of Bremen’s Research Center for East European Studies in German, told TIME. “That’s also the tragedy of the protests of 2020 — that they made (Lukashenko) so weak that he is now not able to ask Putin to move his tanks out of the territory.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, United States ambassador to the United Nations, said on CNN’s State of the Union the U.S. looks “forward to what comes out of those discussions,” referring to talks between Russia and Ukraine.
“We have always indicated that we wanted to find a diplomatic solution, and Russia chose confrontation,” Tomas-Greenfield said on CNN. “This diplomatic effort is one more effort to bring the Russians to the negotiating table.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2022 at 1:47 PM with the headline "What role does Belarus play in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Here’s what to know."
