Belarus

Next up on the international financial crisis list is Belarus.

FYI: Belarus is one of the former Soviet republics. It is the one that has remained most like the old Soviets, and most closely aligned with Russia over the last 20 years.

Belarus is in crisis, and it all ties back to Russia’s involvements in Ukraine. When sanctions went in place against Russia, Belarus recognized that they were tied to Russia but without the deep pockets from oil exports. So they started isolating their economy from Russia as much as possible.

The thing is, now Belarus has ticked off Russia, while still taking a body blow from the sanctions.

Last week their dictator fired some top government officials. This was after shutting down much of their internet and retail commerce the week before.

Belarus is probably not a big deal, the way Russia would be, or the way that Cyprus was a few years back (because of all the money Russians lost there), or Greece a few years before that (because of all the money German investors can’t get back out of there).

Russia has been fairly quiet the past two weeks. Perhaps they’ve just passed the crisis along to a weaker sibling.