Russian Prime Minister will visit Minsk. Mikhail Mishustin’s visit to Minsk is to pave the way for a meeting between Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin within the next two weeks.

Unprecedented daily protests against Alexander Lukashenko since the August 9 vote are being closely watched in Russia, which for years has pushed for closer economic and political integration between two countries despite finding an often difficult and resistant partner in the Belarusian leader.

The protests and associated crackdown have also upended Lukashenko’s nascent rapprochement with the West, which the Belarusian president had used to balance ties with its much larger eastern neighbor.