Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a law granting the Belarusian People’s Assembly the authority to send troops overseas, declare martial law, and ratify the nation’s military doctrine.
Established in 1996, the assembly is a general meeting of the Belarusian Government with industry leaders and other top officials from every government sector, which assumed a pivotal role in the nation’s governance after a disputed constitutional referendum in March 2022.
It can potentially remove the head of state, propose constitutional amendments and referendums, declare a state of emergency, and evaluate the legitimacy of electoral proceedings.
Its members, drawn from the executive, legislative, judicial, and civil society sectors and municipal deputies, will shape domestic and foreign policy, economic growth strategy, and military and national security doctrine for a five-year term.
Speculations suggest that Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, may transition to leading the assembly in 2024.
Belarus hasn’t deployed troops directly to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine but has faced accusations of facilitating Russian military incursion.
It recently received its first tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, triggering regional anxieties and NATO criticism.
Lukashenko is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin following a failed military coup by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the paramilitary Wagner Group.
After Lukashenko’s intervention, Prigozhin relocated his forces to Belarus to secure the Poland border.
In response, Poland deployed military units to the area, prompting Putin to equate any attack on Belarus to aggression against Russia.