They voted for a cis . New ussr
Not Belarus as part of Russia
The union was an economic free trade and common travel. Zone between 2 independent states. Sort of like the EU.
Belarusians are not Russians . Just gonna toss that out there.
Russia is Belarus largest trading partner followed by Ukraine. It only made sense.
Also on top of that, Belarus has played loyal to Russian military command to a large degree.
The nation is landlocked, and well at odds with the west quite often. I don't do the politixs, but suffice to say, it's a duplex:
Russia gets the bugger side of the house and its own address Belarus gets the other smaller side and it's own mailbox too
Belarus or greater Lithuania while brothers simply didn't want to be run by Moscow.
Better to be ruled by your own (fill in term) than someone else's (fill in term)
But how would it turn out.. Not well.. Russia had no real money during the 90s to invest in Belarus. Belarus while it suffered hard during this time frame actually has done well for itself all. Considering. Granted its not a major economic force . Its still not a dump and Minsk is actually a nice place as are most places in the country. Sure its not Germany But it's not flint Michigan either