Belarus profile – Timeline – BBC News

2011 June – Belarus asks the IMF for an emergency loan of up to $8bn over a balance of payments crisis. Russia halves electricity supplies to Belarus over unpaid bills and in an effort to persuade the government to privatise lucrative assets. Belarus seeks a Russian-led $1.2bn bailout, which is conditional on reforms.

2011 July – Hundreds are beaten and arrested after a month of nationwide anti-government protests.

2011 September – The Belarusian rouble falls sharply after the government allows a limited flotation in a bid to ease the financial crisis.

2011 November – Russia agrees to sell Belarus gas at 60% below the price charged to other European countries, in return for the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom taking full ownership of the Belarusian gas pipeline firm Beltranshaz.

2012 January – A new law restricts access to foreign websites and forces internet clubs and cafes to report users visiting sites registered abroad, prompting the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders freedom monitor to list Belarus as an Enemy of the Internet.

2012 February – The European Union recalls its ambassadors from Belarus after the government expels the EU envoy and Polish ambassador in protest at further sanctions.

2012 April – Opposition activists Andrei Sannikau and Zmitser Bandarenka are released from prison early, but others remain in jail.

2012 August – President Lukashenko sacks the foreign minister and the air defence and border guard commanders, and expels the Swedish ambassador after human-rights activists fly into Belarusian airspace to drop teddy bears with pro-democracy messages.

2012 September – Major opposition parties boycott parliamentary elections, complaining they are rigged. Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe observers say election not free.

2014 March – Belarus asks Russia to deploy extra fighter jets and military transport aircraft to its territory after Nato boosts its forces in the neighbouring Baltic countries. The moves come amid increasing tension caused by the crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.