Land Between

[...] it has helped Lukashenko to occupy the niche of Russia's 'best and only' partner by refusing to deal with his opponents, and left the task of supporting Belarusian political prisoners to the west. For Russia there could be further intensified security cooperation - fromjoint air defence to participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization - in exchange for joining its customs union,which has lower energy tariffs. [...] tomake the a balancing act even more intriguing, Belarus is trying to bring China, with its credit and investment resources, into regional play.