What is next? Can we and our neighbours – the Armenians – ever get over the bad blood and live together as it was before? Many don’t believe that it is possible, but I have some hope.

Last year’s protests showed that Lukashenko’s support after more than 25 years in power had dwindled. But he commands the loyalty of the security forces and enjoys the backing of the Kremlin.

The country was a closed, autarkic backwater until three years ago.Now it is open for investment.

It may be hard to believe, but what is a festive occasion for most of us in my country and our neighbors is, as too often in this world, a matter of some controversy. 

Border closures and lockdowns have hit the increasingly tourism-dependent nation hard. In the absence of significant government support, the cost of the pandemic has become increasingly difficult to bear.

Without an effectively functioning government, plans to normalise relations with Turkey cannot proceed, and vital transport and trade routes will continue to be blocked.

The pro-European opposition in Belarus had been marginalised and kept well out of political activity long before the 2020 election. The mass protests became for Lukashenko a testing ground of how effective the security apparatus was.

Ukraine proceeded grimly with its campaign to bring COVID under control - particularly outbreaks in the west of the country – but faced an equally tough problem by enlisting the president and a variety of celebrities to persuade a reluctant population to get vaccinated.