Are the EU and Belarus 'back from the cold'? After years of freeze and the almost complete isolation of Belarus, the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008 has induced a thaw in relations between Brussels and Minsk. The Union temporarily suspended some of the sanctions in place against the...

This paper looks at the interrelationship between external shocks and integration processes in the relationship between two relatively small states (Belarus and Ukraine) and their much larger neighbor (Russia). It contrasts Russia’s willingness and ability to use energy as a soft-power...