Why is Belarus pro-Russia while Ukraine isn't?

Question

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the long and conflicted history between the two has become increasingly evident. It's clear that as a former part of the Soviet Union itself, Ukraine is a state that Russia very well could -- and obviously does -- still want something from today. Ukraine isn't the only state to have broken away from the former Soviet Union, though, and I'm curious what has made its relationship with Russia so different from that of another Slavic state such as, for example, Belarus. What has made Ukraine different from the other former USSR states and why has that encouraged a perpetual war between it and Russia? What does Putin want from Ukraine?

Answer 1

One very short answer to the question that you ask in the title of your question: "Why is Belarus pro-Russia while Ukraine isn't?" is that Belarus is a faux-democracy with a strongman dictator like Russia, and Ukraine is a new, and real, democracy (with many challenges). The leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is very similar to Russia's Vladimir Putin in terms of how he, Lukashenko, runs his country - portraying himself as being an elected leader while actually maintaining undemocratic control of such things as the media in the country and suppressing freedom of expression in order to remain in power regardless of what the people of Belarus really want.

You went on to ask a number of other questions, all of them worthy of longer responses, but let me just offer that Ukraine isn't that different than most of the former Soviet states (Russia and 14 others), many of which are glad they're free from Soviet/Russian occupation (a forced occupation of over 350 million people). Ukraine has pushed for democracy at least since they were the first former Soviet "republic" (they weren't real republics) to transfer governmental power through a peaceful election in 1994. They have struggled with achieving democracy ever since. Ukraine's democratic success appears to be one reason Putin is obsessed with it - having a successful real democracy on Russia's own boarder is a threat to Putin's way of running a country. Placing your questions in a larger context, Putin has also referred to the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,”the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century," and seems to feel he needs to reverse this, by force, if necessary, regardless of the will of the many millions people he is willing to subjugate in order to achieve this.

Answer 2

The 'President' of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is determined to restore a pseudo-Soviet Union / pseudo-Russian Empire by imposing, to one degree or another, Russian control over the former Soviet states, including Belarus and Ukraine.

The former Soviet State of Belarus has been and is currently ruled by the self-described dictator, Alexander Lukashenko. While Lukashenko's relationship with Putin has not always been smooth, the fact remains that, without the support of Putin, it is unlikely that Lukashenko would be able to retain his hold on power. Indeed, because of the nature of Lukashenko's rule, the only nation with which Belarus has friendly relations is Russia. This, of course, means that Putin essentially controls Lukashenko, thus representing a step in the direction of achieving Putin's goal of resurrecting the Soviet Union / Imperial Russia.

Vladimir Putin had hopes that Viktor Yanukovych could serve the same role in the Ukraine as Lukashenko in Belarus, as a pro-Russian leader essentially under Putin's thumb. However, before Yanukovych could fully consolidate political power within his hands, he was overthrown by a majority of the Ukrainian population, who favored closer ties with the European Union, rather than with Putin's Russia.

The overthrow of Yanukovych in the Ukraine was a setback in Putin achieving his goal. Moreover, Putin perceives a democratic Ukraine with strong ties to the Western European democracies as a threat to his own hold on power in Russia. It serves as an example of an actual, functioning democracy, as opposed to the facade of democracy that disguises Putin's dictatorship in neighboring Russia, an example that brings hope to those in Russia who want to replace Putin's facade with a real democracy. In this respect, Lukashenko's Belarus poised no threat to Putin's hold on power in Russia.

Because of the overthrow of Yanukovych, Vladimir Putin has chosen to achieve his goal - at least in the case of the Ukraine - through military force. What the ultimate outcome of Putin's attempted conquest of the Ukraine will be remains to be seen.