Analysing international policy processes and Lithuania’s role in them

Belarus Programme

The publications and events aim to deepen understanding of Belarus’s strategic and geopolitical objectives, their impact on Europe and transatlantic relations, as well as on Lithuania’s strategic objectives. We invite you to read.

Review Nov 24, 2022
Freedom to Speak: Promoting the Freedom of expression in Belarus

Following the disputed presidential election in August 2020 and the refusal by the Western states to recognize the incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka as the elected president of Belarus, several waves of political repressions swept across the country.

Rytų Europos studijų centras
Review Oct 17, 2022
Belarusian trends 2022-3

The Lukashenko regime continues to persecute those involved in the protests during the 2020 presidential elections, as well as those who speak out against Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Anton Achremov
Review Jul 07, 2022
Belarusian trends in 2022 Q2

It is estimated that the Belarusian economy could lose between €16-18 billion annually as a result of the sanctions. The country’s GDP is expected to fall by USD 1.2 billion in 2014 and by 4.1% in 2022.

Andrius Prochorenko Anton Achremov
Review Mar 21, 2022
Trends in Belarus 2022-1

The Belarusian army is strongly opposed to military involvement in Ukraine, and its commanders are keen to avoid sending ground troops to Ukraine.

Dorota Sokolovska Andrius Prochorenko
Review Nov 14, 2020
Geopolitics Returns to Belarus

As other post-Soviet Republics faced civil disruption, some even to the level of populist revolts, such as in Georgia and Ukraine, the authoritarian government of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka appeared, for years, to be unassailable.

Marc Lanteigne
More publications

About the Belarus Programme

Established in early 2021, the Belarus Research Programme of the Eastern Europe Studies Centre analyses political, economic and socio-cultural processes. The research programme is coordinated by analysts and associate experts from the Eastern Europe Studies Centre.

Belarus Programme experts

Laurynas Jonavičius

Laurynas Jonavičius has been lecturing at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science in Vilnius University since 2009, and in 2010 he obtained here a Doctor’s degree in social sciences. Laurynas Jonavičius also worked as a foreign policy adviser in the Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania in 2009-2014 and assisted the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) as an associate researcher in 2016-2019.

Maksimas Milta

Maksimas Milta is ReThink.CEE Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a former Head of Communications and Development at the European Humanities University. His comments on Belarus affairs regularly appeared in the Baltic, Dutch, German public broadcasters’, Le Figaro, Times Higher Education, BBC World News, and The New York Times reports and articles. Recognizing his on-the-ground analysis during the 2020 Belarus Presidential elections, Maksimas became the laureate of the annual Titan award by the editorial team of Delfi. Maksimas holds a master’s degree in political sciences from Vilnius University. Currently, he is a graduate student in European & Russian Studies at Yale.