Thursday, August 21, 2008 By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko at the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008 (AP Photo/RIA Novosti) (CNSNews.com) – The decision by Belarus’ autocratic government to release political prisoners has fueled debate about whether Moscow’s closest post-Soviet ally has been unnerved by the Russia-Georgia war into speeding up efforts to improve ties with the West. Political analysts seeking to make sense of the implications of recent developments in the Caucasus for countries formerly under Soviet domination are following events in Belarus with interest. Relations between President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and the West have been strained over human rights abuses, but on Wednesday, Belarus freed the...
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