The Belarus Factor: Power, Politics and the Region with Ivan Kravtsov

In this episode, we speak with Tatsiana Khomich , the sister of Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava . Tatsiana was part of Viktar Babaryka’s 2020 campaign team and remains an active member of his team in exile. After leaving Belarus, she became a human rights advocate and one of the leading international voices for political prisoners. We talk about the recent release of 14 political pr...

In the latest episode of Belarus Factor, Ivan Kravtsov engages in a sharp, insightful conversation with Kamil Klysinski , Senior Fellow at the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Warsaw, who has spent nearly 20 years analyzing Belarusian politics. They dive straight into the geopolitical game: Belarus seems sidelined in critical peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine , despite its pivotal p...

In this episode of  Belarus Factor , host  Ivan Kravtsov  is joined by  Dmitry Podolinsky , a seasoned strategic consultant with deep expertise in post-Soviet politics. Together, they dissect the shifting dynamics of global power, from the impact of Trump’s foreign policy and the Russo-Ukrainian war to Europe’s economic stagnation and the evolving role of Belarus in regional security. As internati...

Today, I join Andrei Yahorau to discuss the impact of the U.S. government's foreign assistance freeze on Belarusian opposition and civil society. We also try to answer the most acute question: Is democracy promotion even useful? Andrei Yahorau is a former speaker of the Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition in Exile. He is a political theorist who studied foreign aid to Belarus and...

Episode 2: Belarus Under Trump—Political Prisoners, Diplomacy, and a Diplomat’s Perspective with Valery Kavaleuski Meet  Valery Kavaleuski —a seasoned Belarusian diplomat with over eight years of service in the MFA, including a post at the Belarusian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and time at the World Bank. After 2020, he led the diplomatic efforts for Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s team in Vilnius. No...

The main focus of this episode: is the upcoming 2025 presidential elections in Belarus, which will occur on January 26th. He explains the historical context, the influence of elections on Belarusian politics, and the expected outcome where Alexander Lukashenko is likely to secure his seventh term. This is the first episode of the Belarus Factor podcast, host Ivan Kravtsov, an exiled democratic mov...