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Relations with Belarus

Updated: 28 August 2024

NATO worked to build a partnership with Belarus for many years, developing dialogue and practical cooperation in areas of common interest since 1992, when the country joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. In 2021, Allies suspended practical cooperation between NATO and Belarus, while maintaining dialogue, as necessary. NATO Allies have condemned Belarus for enabling Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and for its ongoing complicity in Russia’s war of aggression.

NATO Allies have been closely watching the developments unfolding in Belarus since August 2020. The NATO Secretary General has called on the Belarusian authorities to demonstrate full respect for human rights, including freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest. He has underlined that it is for the people of Belarus to determine their future. All Allies support a sovereign and independent Belarus.
At the 2021 Brussels Summit, NATO Leaders stated that Belarus’ policies and actions have implications for regional stability, and that they have violated the principles that underpin the partnership between NATO and Belarus. Allies called on Belarus to abide by international law, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners.
In November 2021, Allies suspended all practical cooperation, both civilian and military, between NATO and Belarus, while maintaining dialogue, as necessary.
NATO Allies have condemned Belarus for enabling Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and for its ongoing complicity in Russia’s war of aggression.

Belarus’ role in Russia’s war against Ukraine

NATO Allies condemn all those who are facilitating and thereby prolonging Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Belarus continues to enable this war by making available its territory and infrastructure, allowing Russian forces to continue attacking Ukraine. Belarus must end its complicity with Russia and return to compliance with international law.

Russia’s deepening political and military integration of Belarus, including the deployment of advanced Russian military capabilities and personnel in Belarus, has negative implications for regional stability and the defence of the Alliance. NATO condemns Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and coercive nuclear signalling, including its announced stationing of nuclear weapons in Belarus, which demonstrate a posture of strategic intimidation.

Evolution of relations

Belarus’ relations with NATO started in 1992, when it joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council. This forum for dialogue was succeeded in 1997 by the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, which brings together all Allies and partner countries in the Euro-Atlantic area.

Bilateral cooperation began when Belarus joined the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme in 1995. Under the PfP, NATO and Belarus developed practical cooperation in a number of areas through the Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme (IPCP) agreed between NATO and Belarus (see next section for specific examples).

Belarus’ diplomatic mission to NATO opened in April 1998.

In August and September 2020, following mass protests over the results of the Belarusian presidential election, NATO expressed serious concern over the arbitrary detentions and abductions of opposition figures and called on the Belarusian authorities to demonstrate full respect for fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest.

In May 2021, NATO strongly condemned the diversion and forced landing of a Ryanair flight between Athens and Vilnius in Minsk, Belarus, as well as the removal and arrest of Raman Pratasevich, a Belarusian journalist travelling on board, and his partner Sofia Sapega.

In November 2021, NATO condemned Belarus for sending large numbers of irregular migrants to the country’s borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia as part of its hybrid activities. NATO Allies called on Belarus to cease these actions, to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to abide by international law.

Following these developments, Allies suspended all practical cooperation, both civilian and military, between NATO and Belarus in November 2021, while maintaining dialogue, as necessary.

Key areas of cooperation prior to 2021

Belarus’ cooperation with NATO prior to 2021 was mutually beneficial. Some highlights included:

Belarus participated in the Planning and Review Process (PARP). The aim of this participation was to encourage transparency and assist the country in developing capabilities and interoperability for international peace-support operations. NATO helped set planning targets that enabled Belarus to develop some of its forces and capabilities for potential participation in Partnership for Peace (PfP) activities, including NATO-led PfP operations.
Belarus had access to and participated in a wide catalogue of education and training opportunities offered by NATO facilities, as well as courses provided by Allies and partners. On the basis of its Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme (IPCP), Belarusian personnel attended courses in NATO countries and practical cooperation was developed in areas such as civil preparedness, scientific cooperation, peace-support operations, as well as language training and military education.
The NATO Public Diplomacy Division co-organised an annual seminar in Minsk with the Belarusian Foreign Policy and Security Research Center to discuss regional and international security issues with Belarusian experts and students. The latest of these seminars took place in December 2018. Representatives of Belarusian civil society regularly attended NATO briefing programmes at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Since 2001, Belarus received grant awards for about 40 cooperative activities under NATO’s Science for Peace and Security Programme (SPS). Areas of focus included telecommunications, Chernobyl-related risk assessment studies and explosive material detection systems. One notable project brought together scientists from Belarus, Norway and Ukraine to assess the hazards posed by radioactive contamination in the Polessie State Radiation-Ecological Reserve.
The Belarusian Ministry of Emergency Situations participated in civil emergency exercises organised by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC).
Belarus participated in a NATO Trust Fund project aimed at helping the country meet its obligations under the Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and on their destruction. Completed in January 2007, this joint project, led by Canada and co-funded by Belarus and Lithuania, involved the destruction of some 700,000 anti-personnel mines in Belarus.