AFTER MAIDAN AND THE OCCUPATION OF CRIMEA: UKRAINIAN-BELARUSIAN RELATIONS IN EARLY 2014 IN THE INFORMATION SPACE OF UKRAINE

The image of Ukrainian-Belarusian relations in February–April 2014 (against the backdrop of events in Ukraine after the victory of the Revolution of Dignity and the occupation by Russia of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and part of Eastern Ukraine) in the information space of the Ukrainian state is analyzed. It is found that stories about Ukrainian-Belarusian relations during February–April 2014 (and even since the end of 2013) in the information space mainly circulated around such key areas as: the prospects of Ukraine’s European integration course as an alternative to joining the Customs Union of the Eurasian Economic Union (of which, in particular, the Republic of Belarus was a member); assessments by the Belarusian side, led by President A. Lukashenko, of the events of the Revolution of Dignity and the further formation of the new Ukrainian government that led Ukraine after the victory of the Maidan; Minsk’s perception of the Russian occupation of Crimea and the delineation of its legal status after March 2014; Belarusian approaches to Russian aggression against Ukraine in the East of Ukraine with the subsequent start of the Anti-Terrorist Operation there. It is noted that in Ukraine it was emphasized that at each of the mentioned stages the position of official Minsk was marked by significant maneuvering between the desire, on the one hand, to continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Ukraine even in post-Maidan conditions, and on the other hand, to remain in the discourse of Russian narratives, which was manifested in particular in the non-voting of the Belarusian delegation at the General Assembly level on March 27, 2014 for Resolution No. 68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. So, under such circumstances, even the theoretical possibility of creating a platform for peace negotiations on the basis of Minsk in the context of the war in Donbas was not perceived positively by everyone in Ukraine, believing that in this case Russia would not receive a neutral, but a favorable field for itself, on which it would be easier for it to impose ultimatums regarding, for example, the federalization of Ukraine or the status of the Russian language there, completely nullifying the existing support for the Ukrainian side from Western European and American partners. 

Maidan, Revolution of Dignity, Russian occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, Russian-Ukrainian war, Donbas, Republic of Belarus, Ukraine, information space.