Policy briefs

STRATFOR -- Like other Former Soviet countries, Belarus is reassessing its relationship with Russia and the West after MOSCOW 's conflict with Georgia. While not long ago Minsk may have entertained the idea of gradually opening up to the West, the Georgian example will drive it back forcefully into the Kremlin's orbit. Read analysis by STRATFOR.

Belarus, the only ex-Soviet country to have survived the Union's collapse without major political and economic renovation, is reassessing its relationship with Russia in the aftermath of MOSCOW 's recent conflict with Georgia.

A terrorist act in a small European state [Belarus] in the beginning of the twenty-first century can only be the sign of the last stage of political and social disorganisation of society...

By Jan Maksymiuk

Last week, the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, paid a five-day visit to Belarus. The visit was remarkable for at least two reasons.

By David Marples

The press services of the presidencies of Russia and Belarus have announced that the leaders of these countries, Dmitry Medvedev and Alyaksandr Lukashenka, will meet in Brest on June 22. It will be the first bilateral meeting of the two presidents. Reportedly, the meeting is taking place on Russia's initiative (Itar-Tass, June 10), though it is also speculated that Lukashenka invited his Russian counterpart earlier to take part in the ceremonies for what is known as the Day of Grief and Memory, the day that the German army invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 (Belorusy i Rynok, June 16).

Independent journalists could soon find their work in Belarus even more difficult as a result of a new media law that is taking shape. The legislation seeks to impose curbs on the Internet -- the last outpost of uncensored information and free exchange of ideas in one of the world's most authoritarian countries.