International Recognition of the Republic of Belarus (Kirill Kamyshev)

Раздел "Международные отношения"The article covers the first steps of Belarus to build its independence in the late 1980s – the early 1990s. Using predominantly factual material of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Belarus the author analyzes the activity of Belarusian diplomacy aimed to gain international recognition of the sovereignty and independence of Belarus, as well as to establish diplomatic relations with foreign countries and to form the Belarusian diplomatic network abroad. The author points out some peculiarities of the process of international recognition of Belarus and the factors of its irreversibility. Belarus' advantages in this process are analyzed in comparison with the situation in other post-Soviet countries. The establishment of diplomatic relations with foreign countries is considered in the article as the first measure to develop a bilateral interstate dialogue with the leading nations of the world. In this context the article describes the actions of the Belarusian authorities on the eve of the USSR disintegration. It contains information about key directions of the debate over the principles of creating Belarus’ missions abroad. On the whole, the main conclusion is that international recognition of Belarus' sovereignty and independence in the early 1990s was to be guaranteed from the very beginning