‘Wholesale Incorporation’ – Russians Now Allowed to Vote in Belarus, Vice-Versa

In a sign of growing integration between Russia and its tightly controlled Belarus neighbor, Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin announced over the weekend that Belarusians living in the Russian Federation and his own citizens living in Belarus can now participate in their local elections.

At a press conference with his autocratic counterpart in Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko, Putin said that the move will “expand the possibilities for more active involvement of citizens in public and political life.”

International monitoring groups do not consider Russian and Belarusian elections to be free and fair. In both cases, candidate selections are completely controlled by the state.

In the last Russian presidential elections, exactly one year ago, Putin received 88 percent of the vote. This was roughly a month after his only real competition, the charismatic pro-democracy activist Alexei Navalny, died suddenly and mysteriously at the age of 47 in the Kremlin’s custody.

As explained by Polish media outlet Belsat, “the process for selecting candidates in local elections [in Russia] involves complex interactions among pro-Kremlin parties, influential local business figures, and government bureaucrats. Conversely, in Belarus, the electoral lists are predominantly filled with individuals appointed explicitly by the higher echelons of the state administration.”

While there have been growing signs of Belarus’ assimilation into Russia, Lukashenko proclaimed at a press conference at the Kremlin on Friday that his country will not be absorbed formally into Russia any time soon.

“If we are going to burst through this open door, we will ruin everything we have done. It is necessary to go calmly, step by step,” he said. But he added that Minsk’s allegiances in matters of international affairs will always be with Moscow.

“Belarus will never leave Russia on its own, just as Russia will never leave Belarus,” Lukashenko said.

In 2023, Yahoo News reported that it had viewed a leaked document from the Kremlin showing its intentions of fully annexing Belarus by 2030.

“Russia’s goals with regards to Belarus are the same as with Ukraine,” Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told Yahoo News.