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Belarus is turning into a “military district” of Russia and is thereby an “active enabler” of the invasion of Ukraine, European policymakers were told after the Moscow-friendly regime was sanctioned for its role in the war.
A briefing by the EU’s in-house security analysts said the Belarusian regime’s reliance on Moscow since it was weakened by mass protests beginning in 2020 had led to it being more easily bent to Russia’s will.
Russia has used that opportunity to push for deeper military integration between the two countries, the briefing said, culminating in troop movements to Belarus that led to some of Russia's attacks on Ukraine being launched from the country.
Meanwhile, changes to the Belarus constitution that dropped its formal neutrality and opened the door to hosting Russian nuclear weapons were pushed through in a referendum last month described as a sham by the EU.
The deepening of military co-operation between Russia and its former Soviet neighbour “is unlikely to be reversed”, wrote analyst Andras Racz in a paper published by the EU’s Institute of Security Studies.
“Instead, Belarus is apparently on the way to becoming a de facto extension of Russia’s western military istrict,” he said.
“The official removal of neutrality from the new constitution of Belarus is only rubberstamping a reality that Belarus has been rapidly heading towards since 2020, and that has now materialised violently and dramatically following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
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Smoke rising in Kyiv, which mayor Vitali Klitschko says faces a 'difficult and dangerous moment' as Russian forces step up strikes. AFP -
Pope Francis meets visitors holding the Ukrainian flag during his weekly general audience in the Vatican. AFP -
An anti-war protester demonstrates against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in front of the Nato headquarters in Brussels. AFP -
A poster in Saint Petersburg carries the letter Z, a symbol of support for the invasion, and reads: "We are proud of Russia! We are not ashamed!" AFP -
Amid the Ukraine war, there's time for a seaside stroll in Odesa. Reuters -
A child who fled from Ukraine to Belgium waits outside an immigration office in Brussels. EPA -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy receives a standing ovation as he appears via videoconference to make an address to Canada's Parliament. AP -
A woman walks with a bicycle next to a building damaged during the conflict in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha, Donetsk region. Reuters -
A firefighter outside a destroyed apartment building in a residential area of Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers pay tribute to Col Valeriy Gudz, who was killed in battle against Russian troops, at a cemetery in the town of Boryspil. AP -
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a housing block hit by shelling in the Sviatoshynsky district, in western Kyiv. AFP -
Two people were killed as a series of powerful explosions rocked residential districts in Kyiv just hours before talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume. AFP -
The Met Opera and Chorus performs during 'A Concert For Ukraine' in New York City. AFP -
A worker welds metal at the Interpipe Steel plant in Dnipro, Ukraine. Hundreds of Interpipe’s 10,000 employees have joined the fight against Russia. AP -
A woman is rescued by firefighters from her apartment in a burning building that was hit by artillery shells in Kyiv. AP -
Rescuers work at a building damaged by an air strike, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman who fled Ukraine to Belgium waits outside an immigration office, in Brussels. EPA -
Cars stuck at the Irpin River bridge, as Russia unleashes a barrage of air strikes on cities across Ukraine. AFP -
A firefighter looks at a section of a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile on a street in the separatist Donetsk region. The Russian military said 20 civilians were killed by a ballistic missile launched by the Ukrainian forces. AP -
Musician Davide Martello plays a piano near the Ukrainian border in Medyka, Poland. More than 1.76 million people have crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border into Poland, the Polish Border Guard reported on March 14. EPA -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, snaps a selfie with a wounded man during a visit at a military hospital after fighting in the Kyiv region.AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers carry rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles as they walk towards the city of Irpin, north-west of Kyiv. AFP -
Troops carry an elderly woman on a stretcher across a makeshift bridge as Ukrainians flee Irpin. AFP -
Irina Moprezova, 54, stands in front of a house that was damaged by an air strike in Irpin. AFP -
The flags of Russia and Ukraine are projected on the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, which a representative from the Jerusalem Municipality said is a show of support for diplomatic dialogue between the countries. Reuters -
A person holds a Ukrainian flag during an anti-war demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier takes cover as people flee Irpin. AFP -
Ukrainians shelter in an underground train station during the day in Kyiv. EPA -
A Ukrainian serviceman walks carefully with his weapon in the city of Irpin, near Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian people flee the city of Irpin, north-west of Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen carry an elderly woman on a stretcher from the city of Irpin. AFP -
A girl plays games on her tablet inside a subway carriage being used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AFP -
A Ukrainian firefighter drags a hose inside a large food products storage facility which was destroyed by an air strike on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian troops with a Javelin anti-tank missile on the front line in the northern Kyiv region. Reuters -
A woman carries her dog during an evacuation in Irpin. Reuters -
A Ukrainian woman takes shelter in a metro station during the day in Kyiv. EPA -
A member of the Ukrainian armed forces on patrol in Irpin. Reuters -
A Ukrainian fighter takes cover behind a car in the city of Irpin. AFP -
Firefighters at work after air strikes hit residential buildings in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine. AFP -
A man wounded in an air strike is helped by medical staff in Novoiavorivsk, western Ukraine. Getty -
The ruins of the Ukraine Hotel after recent shelling in Chernihiv. EPA
Belarus has been brought under the sanctions umbrella by the EU, Britain and the US for what they describe as its enabling of the Russian onslaught on Ukraine.
The sanctions targeted top Belarusian military officials and state-owned enterprises linked to the armed forces, as well as cutting it out of the Swift payments system in a move mirroring one against Russian banks.
In the prelude to the invasion, Russia sent tens of thousands of troops and large supplies of weaponry to Belarus for the so-called Union Resolve 2022 drills.
Equipment moved into Belarus included S-400 air defence systems, dozens of T-72B3 tanks, BM-27 Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems, engineering vehicles and other heavy hardware, the EU agency’s report said.
The bloc’s foreign policy chief said on Tuesday that several applicant and non-EU countries, including Norway, Iceland, Albania and Montenegro, had promised to align themselves with the sanctions on Belarus over Ukraine.
President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Minsk was already under sanctions over the disputed election in 2020, a subsequent crackdown on dissent and the alleged orchestration of a migration crisis on the border with Poland last year.
The briefing to EU policymakers said Belarus’s place in the Russian camp raised security questions for other countries in the region, such as the Baltic states and Poland, whose safety from a Russian attack is a concern for Nato countries.
Russia could station Iskander ballistic missiles in Belarus and use its forces in the country to expand its intelligence capabilities, Mr Racz said, or close the airspace of parts of Poland and Lithuania with air defence missiles.
It is also “highly likely that Russia will deploy significant signal intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities to Belarus”, the briefing said.
Another possibility is a full-blown Russian base in Belarus, adding to a naval transmission station and long-range radar station, which were inherited from Soviet times and which Russia is thought to operate free of charge.
Mr Lukashenko previously resisted this idea but his defence ministry said last month that Russian troops would be stationed in Belarus until there was an “objective need” for them to return.
