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The purpose of this article is to discuss the trajectory of Belarusian-Lithuanian relations with a particular focus on the period after the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which resulted in a change in international relations in the region. This was the moment that redefined the Lithuanian-Belarusian relations, which until 2020 were satisfactory for both sides (especially in the economic aspect). However, Lithuania began to pursue a reactive policy of promoting the democratisation of Belarus and provided multi-level support to Belarusian opposition forces. The current problems in bilateral relations (e.g., the future of Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant located in Astravyets) have been put on the agenda for discussion at the EU level, while the instruments of a hybrid conflict in the form of an influx of immigrants into Lithuania, controlled by the Belarusian regime, have become a key issue for the future prospects of relations between Belarus and Lithuania.

Abstract
State leadership in Russia is determined by historical and cultural as well as by legal and institutional premises. The analysis of ways of obtaining legitimacy by state leaders of the Russian Federation is a borderline issue of political science, sociology, and history. The conditions that favor the creation of the archetype on the Russian ground are undoubtedly: extremely centralized political power in Russia (one central decision-making center whose decisions were arbitrarily arbitrary), the problem of the enforcement of the rules of the trilateral division of power (the legislative sphere dominated the legislature), the low level of control Social rulers (lack of effective legal mechanisms to verify the effects of their activities), paternalism of the leadership system and low participation of representative institutions in public life. The aim of the article is to situate in the field of considerations about the archetype of Russian power the concept of Yuri Pivovarov, according to which not only civilization baggage and the immaturity of civil society have decided the legitimacy of the state leadership of the Russian Federation. According to him, the problem of the participation of the political elite in the redistribution of goods (and the low level of participation of citizens in the process of ownership separation) is of significant importance. According to the theory of the Russian political scientist, the basis for understanding the phenomenon of Russian state leadership is the combination of elements of archetypal leadership with a proper interpretation of the relation of freedom – property.

The next phase of Russian aggression against Ukraine demonstrated that despite lacking a large military, territorial, population, or raw material potential, Belarus could play a significant role in the project to construct a new regional, continental, and even global security architecture. The purpose of this article is to discuss the problem of repositioning Belarus, which was affected not only by the multidimensional change in Belarusian-Ukrainian relations as a result of the war but also by long-term efforts to elevate Belarusian-EU relations. In this area, the fundamental research question is whether the war in Ukraine, the breach of the so-called Budapest Memorandum and the deepening of the multifaceted Russian-Belarusian integration within the Union State (including the militarisation of Belarus and the allocation of tactical nuclear weapons) will cause the projects for the redefinition of Belarus-EU relations (which are instrumental in reducing the intensity of political turbulence in the region) to disappear from the EU diplomatic agenda for a long time, with a direct negative impact on the future of European security. The article verifies the hypothesis that due to the specificity of the Belarusian authoritarian model, despite the systematically deepening Russian-Belarusian integration and the ever-expanding sanctions policy towards Belarus, (2) due to the shape of Belarusian-Ukrainian relations after 2014 and the periodically satisfactory Belarusian-EU relations, (1) there are still prospects for Belarus to pursue foreign policy diversification and repositioning of the European vector in it.