Abstract. New international realities have had a significant impact on the political and economic situation in Belarus. Due to the beginning of a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Western countries have applied several packages of economic sanctions to Belarus. Sanctions pressure and isolation from the West contribute to the expansion of Russian-Belarusian economic cooperation in the field of import substitution, which should contribute to the technological breakthrough of the two countries and deepen their integration. Currently, the consolidated actions of Moscow and Minsk are aimed at strengthening the defense capability of the army of the Union State.