I NTERREGIONAL COOPERATION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND BELARUS AS A FACTOR IN STRENGTHENING THE UNION STATE

This article examines the process of building the Union State of Russia and Belarus in the context of the disintegration processes in the post-Soviet region and the integration efforts of individual CIS countries. The article considers the practice of interaction between Russia and Belarus within the framework of the Union State in the optics of the European experience of multi-speed integration and regional economic imbalances, taking into account the peculiarities of cratogenesis in postSoviet countries. The importance of the factor of spatial management of territories for Russian-Belarusian integration in the context of a proxy war with Western countries is assessed. The text suggests options for interregional cooperation between Russia and Belarus as a tool to strengthen the connectivity of the two countries within the framework of the Union State as the leading integration association in the post-Soviet space.