ABSTRACT
Belarus, the former Soviet republic of Byelorussia, has an economy which is well balanced between agriculture and industry but, of all the former Soviet states. It is the one which has developed the closest relations with the Russian Federation. The geopolitical issue concerns the influence these strengthening ties may have on the other former Soviet states in the region and the long-term effects on the eastward extension of NATO. In 1939 the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) regained the western sector of its territory, which had been awarded to Poland in 1921. Belarus had renounced its nuclear weapons and some 80 SS-25 missiles were dismantled. Belarus joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) in January 1995 and the last nuclear missiles were removed from its soil in late 1996. In the other CIS states, reintegration is seen at best as a threat to the CIS itself and, at worst, as a harbinger to the restoration of Soviet hegem.
