Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual state of the nation address, given April 25, was remarkable for one glaring omission. It was quite surprising that Putin did not say one word about Russia's "brotherly" relations with Belarus, providing only an abbreviated sketch of the whole area of foreign policy. Yet just days earlier, Belarus had been one of the most contested issues at the NATO ministerial meeting held on April 21 in Vilnius.
Baev, Pavel K. (2005) Was the Rice-Lavrov Quarrel Really about Belarus?, Eurasia Daily Monitor. 2 May.
