Does the existing division between ‘pro-Russian’ and ‘anti-Russian’ (or, in other connotation, ‘pro-Russian’ and ‘pro-European’) orientation of Belarusian political forces illustrate real dilemmas and meaningful challenges to the political and economic development of Belarus in the future?
Are numerous claims of the opposition politicians that Russia implements or could implement in the near future its own political project within the ‘opposition field’ of Belarus justified?
Is there a real-world possibility for a pro-Russian opposition to emerge in Belarus, the phenomenon so much feared by many of the Belarusian oppositional elites but at the same time advocated by some of the Russian analysts?
Is there an opportunity for political cooperation between Russia and the EU on the ‘Belarusian issues’?
Alternative Belarus and the Russian Factor: New Challenges, but Old Dilemmas?
Fri, 2007-07-20 11:02
BISS
Participants of the Expert Panel:
Paulyuk Bykouski, observer of ‘Belorusy i Rynok’ newspaper.
Alexander Feduta, journalist, scholar in philology; between 1991 and 1994 Mr. Fyaduta was the leader of the Union of Belarusian Youth; appointed in 1994 as the Chief of the Department for Social and Political Information of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus. Later, he quit this position and became an analyst at ‘Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta’Moscow: Referendum, 2005). (1995–2000) and the executive director of the public association ‘Social Technologies’ (1999–2004). Mr. Fyaduta is the author of the most well-known biography of the first President of Belarus, Mr. Alexander Lukashenka, entitled ‘Lukashenka. Political Biography’ (Moscow: Referendum, 2005). BISS director Vitali Silitski reviewed this book in Foreign Policy magazine.
Sviatlana Kalinkina, journalist, First Deputy Editor-in-Chief (1996–2002), and later Editor-in-Chief (since 2002) of a reputed Belarusian newspaper ‘Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta’. Since 2004, Ms. Kalinkina is the Chief Editor of opposition newspaper ‘Narodnaya Volya’.
Dzianis Meliancou, born in 1980 in Mahileu, Belarus. Mr. Meliancou is a graduate of the MahileuState University. He studied at the MA level at the European Humanities UniversityVilniusLithuania). After successfully graduating from this institute with an MA degree in 2006, he has become a doctoral student of the Department of International Relations at the Belarusian State University. His dissertation is devoted to the study of the relationships between the EU and the NATO in the context of the emerging European security system. Mr. Meliancou is also teaching at the European Humanities University recently reopened in Vilnius (offering such courses as Political History of Europe and Political Science). (specializing in European and Transatlantic Studies). After the University’s closure by the authorities, he moved to an MA course at the Institute for International Relations and Political Science in Vilnius (Lithuania). After successfully graduating from this institute with an MA degree in 2006, he has become a doctoral student of the Department of International Relations at the Belarusian State University. His dissertation is devoted to the study of the relationships between the EU and the NATO in the context of the emerging European security system. Mr. Mel’yantsou is also teaching at the European Humanities University recently reopened in Vilnius (offering such courses as Political History of Europe and Political Science).
Agenda for the discussion and the full text of the debate can be found here: