Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Union State" in English language version.
Lukashenko signed on in the apparent hope that he could one day replace Yeltsin and rule over both Belarus and Russia.
[...] Lukashenko was pleased with the idea for other reasons: he planned to use the arrangement to ultimately replace the unpopular Yeltsin. The creation of the Union State could lead to common citizenship, which would allow Lukashenko to run for the top office in case of Yeltsin's departure. Another reason for him to move closer to Russia was that Belarus' highly industrialized economy relied heavily on Russian raw materials, mostly gas and oil.
That same year, the Tiraspol Supreme Soviet chairman declared that the Transnistrian republic will demand that Moldova accepts full integration into the CIS and that it joins the Russian Federation–Belarus union, viewed as a possible future model for the MTR's status vis-a-vis the Republic of Moldova. A non-binding referendum on joining the Russia–Belarus union was held between April and June 1998, with over 66 percent of the ballots supporting the union. However, like the province of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea (isolated from Russia by independent Lithuania and Poland), the east-bank separatist region, has no common borders with either Belarus or the Russian Federation.
Lukashenko signed on in the apparent hope that he could one day replace Yeltsin and rule over both Belarus and Russia.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)That same year, the Tiraspol Supreme Soviet chairman declared that the Transnistrian republic will demand that Moldova accepts full integration into the CIS and that it joins the Russian Federation–Belarus union, viewed as a possible future model for the MTR's status vis-a-vis the Republic of Moldova. A non-binding referendum on joining the Russia–Belarus union was held between April and June 1998, with over 66 percent of the ballots supporting the union. However, like the province of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea (isolated from Russia by independent Lithuania and Poland), the east-bank separatist region, has no common borders with either Belarus or the Russian Federation.