Insight into the armed forces of Belarus

Largely unreformed since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the Belarusian military finds itself in an environment of highly centralized political rule, limited public scrutiny and oversight, and a relatively weak economy struggling to defeat a harmful culture of corruption.

The pool of equipment illustrates this well. A pyramid-shaped resource base with a disproportionately large Soviet-era foundation and a much smaller tip of modern technology, the pool of equipment is impressive at first glance, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that a substantial part is obsolete and Belarus’s force readiness is occasionally put into question by even its closest ally, Russia.

The Belarusian armed forces will likely continue to struggle to bridge the gap between the shadow of the past and the requirements of the future. A major overhaul seems required, but, without the injection of the funding necessary to implement this, the armed forces instead will continue to maintain a partially obsolete defence system.

Read more about the publicationThe Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces