From Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
KREMLIN CLIENT STATE: REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
Republic of Belarus
Diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus were established on December 27, 1991. The Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Belarus was opened on June 30, 1992, and the Embassy of Belarus in Ukraine on October 12, 1993.
Bilateral relations are regulated by the Treaty between Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus on friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation dated July 17, 1995, which entered into force on August 6, 1997.
POLITICAL DIALOGUE
On August 9, 2020, the Republic of Belarus held presidential elections that were not recognized by the international community and Ukraine. The presidential elections in Belarus were followed by mass protest rallies and large-scale persecution against their participants and the country’s civil society as a whole. Political dialogue between Ukraine and Belarus has been suspended since then. On September 15, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted Resolution № 883-IX, which stated that the election of the President of the Republic of Belarus was neither free nor fair and took place in the complete absence of competition between candidates.
Ukraine has joined EU sanctions against 40 Belarusian officials involved in election fraud and the use of force against peaceful protesters.
During 2021, bilateral Ukrainian-Belarusian relations were further complicated. Political dialogue at high and higher levels remained “on pause”. In November 2021, O. Lukashenko declared that “Crimea de facto and de jure has become Russian.” In February 2022, Belarus actually supported the recognition of the “independence” of the so-called “LPR/DNR” by Russia, which thereby grossly violated international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Since 24.02.2022 Belarus has become an accomplice in Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine. Lukashenko regime has allowed Moscow to use Belorussian territory as a ‘springboard’ for the large-scale military invasion in Ukraine. In particular, the territory of the Republic of Belarus is used to launch missiles, combat aircraft and helicopters that attack civilian population and military targets in Ukraine. Moreover Russian ground forces invaded Ukraine (Kyiv, Chernihiv regions) directly from Belarusian territory. The Russian Federation also uses the territory of Belarus for logistical support of the aggression.
Against the background of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ complicity in the war, Ukrainian-Belarusian contacts in almost all spheres of bilateral cooperation were suspended.