Elliptical Orbit? Belarusian Foreign Policy in Fraught Times

In this episode of War & Peace , Olga and Elissa speak with Valery Kavaleuski, former Belarusian diplomat and Executive Director of the Euro-Atlantic Affairs Agency, about Minsk’s evolving foreign policy and how it is constrained by enduring Russian influence. They discuss the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercise Zapad 2025, which took place just after 19 Russian drones crossed into Poland, heightening tensions between NATO and Moscow. They unpack Belarus’ continued participation in the Vienna Document, its recent engagement with Washington, which seems to have led to prisoner releases in exchange for sanctions relief, and whether the EU and its members should adopt a more pragmatic approach when engaging with Minsk. They also look at the future of Belarus’ domestic politics, the prospects for dialogue between the opposition and the Lukashenka government, and what a post-Lukashenka Belarus might look like. For more, check out our Belarus and Europe & Central Asia pages. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to Elliptical Orbit? Belarusian Foreign Policy in Fraught Times online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Elliptical Orbit? Belarusian Foreign Policy in Fraught Times is an episode from War & Peace by International Crisis Group.

This episode is 32:32 long.

This episode was published on Sep 23, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from War & Peace when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.