title: From strategic partner to co-aggressor: Russia’s attempts to lure Belarus into the war in Ukraine
abstract: Although Belarus is one of Russia’s strategic partners after the outbreak of the war in Donbas relations between the two states were increasingly tense. Since 2014, Alexander Lukashenko has refused to recognize the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and has tried to mediate the conflict by hosting peace talks in Minsk. Moreover, in 2018 and 2019, he refused Vladimir Putin’s proposals to deepen integration with Russia within the Union State. However, since the beginning of post-electi
journal: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe