The Belarusian Economy Under Sanctions Since the Start of Russia’s War in Ukraine

Introduction

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Belarusian economy suffered an unparalleled economic shock and entered a severe downturn. Belarus has lost almost all of its exports to its third largest trading partner, Ukraine, and trade volumes with its second largest trading partner, the European Union, have more than halved. A steady 10-month fall in gross domestic product (GDP) still dominates domestic economic trends at the time of writing. To cope with the crisis, the government has resorted to intensifying economic relations with Russia, hiding data in order to disguise the true state of the economy and increased economic interventionism.