September 23, Minsk /BelTA correspondent/. An overwhelming majority of citizens — 92.6% — believe that Belarus should maintain good relations with all countries, regardless of any disagreements that may exist between them. These are the findings of a comprehensive nationwide sociological survey addressing current issues on the international and domestic agenda, BelTA reports.
According to the general assessment of analysts at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research (BISR), Belarusians do not perceive the current conflicts as the norm and, at the same time, have a clear vision of what the future should look like in terms of international relations.
Only 6.1% of respondents disagree with the statement that Belarus should maintain good relations with all countries, regardless of any disagreements that may exist between them.
According to Vitaly Punchenko, Deputy Director of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research, the survey results demonstrate that Belarusians tend to form their own sovereign assessment of Belarus’s international partners and to take a balanced and rational approach to relations with each country individually.
Aleksandr Lukashenko has repeatedly stated that Belarus is the most peace-loving country and that the Belarusian people want nothing but peace, Vitaly Punchenko emphasized. He also drew attention to the fact that the national anthem of Belarus begins with the words: “We, Belarusians, are peaceful people, wholeheartedly devoted to our native land…”
“Peace, security and freedom are not merely state-building values for Belarusians, but a historically established ideal of society and an important part of the nation’s self-awareness. Goodwill and peacefulness are our national hallmark and the foundation of our cultural code,” he noted.
According to the BISR Deputy Director, Belarusians tend to view relations with different countries in a positive light, regardless of the current geopolitical situation.
The BISR Deputy Director noted that the concepts of pamiarkounasts (a Belarusian notion of moderation, reasonableness and tolerance) and tolerance are firmly rooted in the Belarusian mentality. This refers to the ability to coexist peacefully with people of different nationalities and religious denominations, an attitude shaped over centuries at the crossroads of different cultures and religions.
Belarusians know the value of peace, he said. “For centuries, our country was repeatedly the scene of devastating wars. The deepest scar in the national memory was left by the Great Patriotic War, in which one in three inhabitants lost their lives. The tragedies endured by the country have instilled in the public consciousness of Belarusians a deep and enduring rejection of violence and aggression. For many generations, the greatest value has been the ability to live under peaceful skies,” Vitaly Punchenko said.
According to him, Belarus is an open country, and many Belarusians have relatives, friends and acquaintances living in different parts of the world, from Poland to Australia. Ideally, Belarusian citizens would like to see constructive relations with all countries, free of irreconcilable differences.
In other words, despite all the difficulties in relations with certain countries, Belarusians look to the future of the country’s foreign policy with optimism and hope.
What should Belarus’s relations with other countries look like in the coming years?
At the same time, the survey once again confirmed that a separation of Belarus from Russia is impossible. Vitaly Punchenko noted that relations between the two peoples are not merely those of allies but are fraternal. Earlier BISR studies and the latest findings show a consistently positive trend in maintaining the Russian vector as a priority for Belarus. “The high level of support for close relations with Russia confirms Belarusians’ friendly attitude toward Russians. The economic and social benefits of integration within the Union State have become genuinely attractive, as they expand citizens’ rights and opportunities in business, education, culture, tourism and interpersonal contacts,” he said.
The survey results show that Belarusians view relations with China as highly promising. In terms of public demand for closer ties, Beijing ranked immediately behind Moscow. The strong interest among citizens is consistent with the strategic course toward deeper cooperation with China, including within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, of which Belarus became a full member in 2024, Vitaly Punchenko noted.
He also pointed out that young people show particularly strong interest in China. This is an indication of the long-term potential of Belarusian-Chinese relations.
Public attitudes toward the United States reflected caution and restrained optimism. There is a gradual emergence of readiness for a pragmatic normalization of relations, based on productive communication between Minsk and Washington. According to the BISR Deputy Director, there is currently a degree of convergence between the interests of Belarusians and those of the current U.S. administration, which has declared its intention to bring an end to the conflict near Belarus’s borders. At the same time, a degree of uncertainty remains among the public, which, he said, can clearly be linked to years of political and economic pressure on Belarus from the White House.
Centuries of shared history have largely shaped Belarusians’ attitudes toward neighboring peoples, Vitaly Punchenko noted. Therefore, even against the backdrop of the current policies pursued by the governments of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine, the number of respondents who favor closer relations with these countries in the coming years is approximately three times higher than the share of those who favor less close relations and almost twice as high as the share of those who would prefer to maintain the status quo. The survey recorded a similar pattern in perceptions of the prospects for relations with all four countries.
“The constant information pressure exerted by these countries on Minsk, aimed at portraying the Belarusian authorities in a negative light, has produced the opposite result. Interest among the Belarusian population in ‘unfriendly’ states is declining, while attitudes toward them are becoming less clear-cut and increasingly uncertain. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of respondents still consider improved relations with neighboring countries desirable, drawing a distinction between their peoples and their current governments,” he noted.
When it comes to relations with “difficult Western partners,” citizens demonstrate political wisdom and caution. The survey results support the hypothesis that there is a high degree of public confidence in the state’s foreign-policy course, including its approach to building relations with the United States, the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.
Overall, the BISR Deputy Director emphasized, Belarusian society has managed to retain common sense and a non-confrontational outlook even amid an inter-civilizational confrontation. This, he said, is Belarus’s strength and unique characteristic.
The sociological survey was conducted in July and August by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, commissioned by the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Research (BISR). It involved 2,045 respondents from all regions of the country. The first part of the survey findings, covering current issues in Belarus’s socioeconomic development, was presented in Minsk on September 10. The second part, focusing on sociopolitical issues, was presented on September 16. Today, sociologists presented the findings of the third part of the survey, concerning current issues on the international and domestic agenda.
