It’s a bit difficult to summarize the relationship between Russia and Belarus but this op-ed by Andrew Wilson at the European Council of Foreign Relations does a pretty fair job. It’s sort of like the relationship between President Jimmy Carter and his younger brother Billy Carter except more dysfunctional. Everything bad you can say about Russia is about ten times worse in Belarus.
Haha! I like that analogy.
Belarus had the highest percentage of people killed during WWII in the Soviet Union. Wonder if that is a factor?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties