Area: 207,595 sq km (80,153 sq mi)
Population (1998 est.): 10,235,000
Head of state and government: President Alyaksandr G. Lukashenka, assisted by Prime Minister Syarhey Ling
Belarus in 1998 experienced a year of political tension and economic problems and became increasingly isolated from the West. Pres. Alyaksandr G. Lukashenka imposed new penalties on those who opposed him, including a possible four-year jail sentence for "insults" to the president. Consequently, the year was marked by court cases against those detained in demonstrations, particularly members of the Belarusian Popular Front, whose acting chairman, Lyavon Barcheusky, and deputy chairman, Yury Khadyka, were incarcerated briefly in April. In general, however, there were fewer antigovernment demonstrators than in the past; the 10,000 on March 22 to commemorate the declaration of independence in 1918 was by far the largest.
The president announced that parliamentary elections would be held in the year 2000 and presidential elections in 2001, according to the amended--but in violation of the former--constitution. Late in the year most leftist parties were united in a Popular Patriotic Union, one goal of which was to push for a referendum on confidence in the president in June 1999, in lieu of a presidential election in 1999 as warranted by the 1994 constitution.
During the year Belarus suffered its most severe economic and financial crisis to date. Though official figures provided a picture of impressive economic growth (a rise in gross domestic product of about 12%), the Ministry of Economy acknowledged that the nation was badly in need of foreign loans. Belarus continued to trade by barter rather than money, and the currency was in a free fall against the U.S. dollar. Though the official exchange rate was held at 50,400 rubels to the dollar, the Interbank currency exchange was offering 350,000 rubels to the dollar by early September. Banking came increasingly under governmental control as Lukashenka removed the chairman of the national bank, Hennady Aleynikov, and replaced him with a close ally, former first deputy prime minister Pyotr Prokopovich. Because its economy was closely tied to that of Russia, Belarus also suffered from the financial crisis in Russia that began in the summer of 1998.
The government in 1998 pursued a dual foreign policy: first to try to make clear the nature of the Russia-Belarus Union and to promote closer relations with other former Soviet republics, and second to expand ties and military cooperation with Iran, Syria, Egypt, India, and China. In the former category the main question was the resolution of the issue of dual citizenship and the powers designated to the Union Parliament.
Relations with the rest of the world were strained. During part of the year the Minsk office International Monetary Fund was closed, but by late November it had reopened. In June the Belarusian government tried to evict the ambassadors of 22 countries from their residences at the Drazdy complex, near Minsk, ordering them to leave their homes by June 10. On June 18 the Drazdy complex was declared to be the property of the presidential administration, and on the following day the diplomats were locked out. On June 22 the ambassadors of the U.K., Greece, France, Germany, and Italy were ordered home for consultations, and the U.S. soon followed suit. Lukashenka subsequently declared that alternative accommodations would soon be found for the ambassadors.