Alexander Lukashenko
Aleksandr Grigorievich Lukashenko (Russian: Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Belarusian: Аляксандр Рыгоравіч Л укашенка, Aliaksandr Ryhoravič Łukašenka; Kopys, Orsha Raion, Vitebsk; August 31, 1954) or Alexandr Lukashenko is the current President of Belarus, a position he has held continuously since on July 20, 1994.
In his youth, he graduated in history, did military service in the Soviet border troops, and worked as a manager of a collective farm. After a decade as a member of the Belarusian Communist Party, he was certified as a deputy in 1990 and was part of a current that sought to keep the Soviet Union under a democratic system. In 1991, he was the only member of the Belarusian Supreme Soviet to vote against the dissolution of the USSR. During the first years of independence, he gained a reputation as a fighter against corruption at a time marked by crisis and disaffection towards the political class. In December 1993, he was elected chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee and from that position he forced the resignation of Stanislav Shushkevich, who lost a vote of confidence in parliament.
He won the 1994 presidential elections as an independent candidate, with an electoral program in which he promised economic measures of a socialist nature and greater integration with Russia, materialized in agreements such as the State of the Union of Russia and Belarus (1997) and the Eurasian Economic Community (2000). Since then he has been re-elected six times with percentages greater than 70% of the votes, controversial results as they are considered electoral fraud by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Within his country he maintains a high popularity thanks to the maintenance of social aid and economic development, however the 2020 presidential elections confirmed that discontent was increasing —according to some analysts due to the management of COVID-19 added to discontent over low wages and lack of freedoms—and for the first time he had to face an organized opposition led by Svetlana Tijanóvskaya that questions his retention in power.
His tenure is a matter of controversy: while for his followers he achieved growth under a market socialism that avoided the negative effects of the "shock therapy" established in Boris Yeltsin's Russia, his detractors regret that he has exercised an authoritarian mandate and they accuse him of violation of human rights, persecution of opponents and of being "the last dictator in Europe".
In the international community, it has used the strategic position of Belarus (between Western Europe and Russia) to obtain trade agreements, especially for raw materials and energy, with Russia. Relations with the United States and the European Union are very complicated, the governments of these countries do not recognize his electoral results and have even imposed sanctions on him. Lukashenko's main allies are the Commonwealth of Independent States, the People's Republic of China, the ALBA-TCP countries and Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Iraq. In mid-2019 there was a rapprochement with the United States that culminated in 2020 when Lukashenko met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, negotiated the return of the United States ambassador to Minsk after twelve years of absence and the purchase of crude oil.
For his support for Moscow in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Beginnings in politics
Lukashenko was born on August 31, 1954, in Kopys, a village in the Vitebsk province, Byelorussian SSR (at the time, part of the Soviet Union). His paternal grandfather, to whom he owes his last name, was of Ukrainian origin. He had a very modest childhood being raised only by his mother.In 1975 he obtained a degree in History from the Maguilov Pedagogical Institute, and ten years later he graduated from the Belarusian Academy of Agriculture.
He served two terms as a political commissar in the Soviet Army: first he was a guard of the border troops in Brest from 1975 to 1977, and when his service ended he became the leader of the communist youth organization (Komsomol) from Maguilov until 1978. A year later he joined the Communist Party of the USSR. He returned to the armed forces to be an infantry officer between 1980 and 1982. During that period he had become the Belarusian champion in sambo, a self-defense system.
In 1982, he became vice-president of a kolkhoz (state farm) in Gorodets for three years, rising to the top position. He then he headed a building materials plant in Shklov.
Lukashenko achieved in 1990 an act of deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR. At that time he formed a faction within the Belarusian Communist Party (PCB), called "Communists for Democracy", which advocated keeping the USSR under democratic precepts. In December 1991, he was the only Belarusian parliamentarian who voted against the ratification of the Belavezha Treaty, which confirmed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
In the early years of independent Belarus, a time marked by disaffection with politics, Lukashenko gained fame as a public figure against corruption. Although he maintained his connection to communism, he fell out of favor with many of the old CPB members for his attacks on nomenklatura privileges.In 1993, he was elected chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Belarusian parliament. From that position he accused more than seventy leaders, including President Stanislav Shushkevich and Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kébich, of widespread corruption and personal enrichment.Shushkevich was ultimately forced to resign in January 1994, after losing a vote of confidence.
The process led to the drafting of the new Belarusian Constitution and the holding of the first democratic presidential elections, which took place in July 1994.
Presidency of Belarus
First term (1994-2001)
Lukashenko ran in the presidential elections as an independent member of a popular platform, with a markedly populist character. Among his promises were to end corruption, "defeat the mafia" and favor greater integration with Russia. His candidacy faced five other options, with ex-presidents Kébich and Shushkévich being a priori favourites. there were two rounds: June 24 and July 10, 1994. In the first Lukashenko obtained 45% of the votes, while in the second round he obtained more than 80% of popular support against Kébich.
The results surprised both within Belarus and the international community, given Lukashenko's youth (39 years old) and his lack of experience. But the electorate opted for a change of course, as Belarus was then going through a severe economic crisis. When he came to power, inflation had skyrocketed to 40%, unemployment was very high and, in general terms, the standard of living had worsened remarkably. On the other hand, the few capitalist reforms implemented had not had any effect.
The president tried to stabilize the economy through the recovery of measures typical of the socialist model. Among them, he doubled the minimum wage, reintroduced price controls on various services, and nationalized banks that had been privatized. This was intended to avoid the negative effects that "shock therapy" had on capitalism in other nations of the old USSR. However, the economy remained stagnant because production did not recover.Internally, he dismissed some cabinet members on corruption charges, including the defense minister and the head of the armed forces. The opposition grew to such an extent that there were continuous clashes between the presidency and the parliament, made up mostly of the old guard of the Communist Party.
Constitutional reforms
On May 14, 1995, a referendum was held in which four issues were decided: the change of national symbols (the ones proposed were very similar to those of Soviet Belarus), further integration with Russia, granting the Russian language the same status as Belarusian and reinforcing the presidency with full powers, including dissolving parliament. The Soviet only approved a vote on the agreement with Russia, rejecting the others. a strong confrontation with the rest of the deputies, especially from the nationalist Popular Front. In the end, the consultation took place and the four points were approved by 75% of the electorate, with a participation of 64.8%.
At that time, relations between Belarus and the international community had deteriorated. In 1996, the government threatened NATO not to dismantle Soviet-era missiles. And the International Monetary Fund announced that it would stop providing financial aid, as reform measures were not being taken. Lukashenko stated that the recommendations of the IMF "are appropriate for a capitalist economy, but not for our country".
In the summer of 1996, 70 of the 110 deputies of the Belarusian Duma filed a motion of no confidence to oust Lukashenko on charges of "violation of the Constitution". In response, the president organized a referendum on constitutional reform in November 1996, which consolidated his power. He won the referendum with 70.5% popular support. In addition to reinforcing the figure of the president, with an automatic re-election for five years until 2001, the old parliament was replaced by a bicameral system (National Assembly) with a Chamber of Representatives and a Council of the Republic (Senate) by provinces. The government used its options to guarantee approval, including pressure on the media. The reform went ahead despite so much the former speaker of the Belarusian parliament as well as the Western bloc called the result a farce. Lukashenko was congratulated by Russia and China, his main allies.
Reaching Russia
The most important international agreement was the approval in 1997 of the State of the Union, a supranational entity between Russia and Belarus. The agreement was essential for Lukashenko's executive: his country is completely dependent on Russian gas and electricity, but many of the businesses could not pay for energy imports due to the fragility of the Belarusian ruble. Originally incorporated as a commonwealth on April 2, 1996, the current confederation was approved on its first anniversary. they have experienced ups and downs, it has been maintained over time.
In early 1998, the Central Bank of Russia suspended trading in Belarusian rubles, leading to the collapse of the currency. Lukashenko took control of the Central Bank of Belarus to impose the change in value at previous levels, as well as freeze bank accounts and reduce their commercial activities. This caused capital flight and a shortage of products, exhausted before the fears of hyperinflation. Given these events, Lukashenko blamed the country's problems on "economic sabotage" against them. To put pressure on the international community, in April of the same year he expelled the ambassadors of the United States, Japan and several European countries from his residential complex outside Minsk. This caused a conflict because diplomatic residences are strictly protected under the terms of the Vienna Convention.
The distance from Western countries led his government to approach positions with other potential allies. In 1999 it became known that Belarus had exported weapons to a group of countries including Iran, Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Slobodan Milošević's Yugoslavia. With the outbreak of the Kosovo War in 1999, Lukashenko was one of the few voices that defended Milošević and even proposed a "Slavic Union" between Russia, Belarus and Serbia, something that did not prosper. On the other hand, the European Union began to worry about the security of its Russian gas reserves, which are channeled through Belarus. Even Boris Yeltsin, who established the economic union, was unhappy with how Belarusians were taking advantage of it.
Second term (2001-2006)
The following presidential elections took place on September 9, 2001, when the term extension expired. For these elections, Lukashenko carried out a campaign very similar to that of 1994: guarantee stability, growth based on socialism, complete immersion with Russia but without its reforms, and a strong mandate to maintain social order. The opposition was grouped in around the independent Vladimir Goncharik and criticized the establishment of a system that had reproduced the corruption denounced years before. However, the president was a favorite because of the popularity of his economic measures among the lower and middle classes.
Lukashenko won the elections in the first round with 77.4% of the votes. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) detected irregularities, assuring that the electoral system was rigged and that opponents did not they were able to deploy their campaign. The most important support among the international community was that of Vladimir Putin, the new president of Russia, who offered to expand the collaboration agreements.
During the 2000s, the Belarusian economy demonstrated dynamic and sustained growth. Gross domestic product increased to its peak of 9.2% in 2005, largely due to the development of the industrial sector, the improvement of agriculture and trade agreements with the Commonwealth of Independent States. Good relations with Russia, on which it depends almost entirely for oil and electricity reserves, also led to a drop in energy costs, taking advantage of its geographical position between Western Europe and the Russian Federation in negotiations.
However, its biggest weakness was the deterioration of relations with the United States and the European Union. There were two events that caused the final break. On the one hand, the 2003 Iraq war and the subsequent fall of Saddam Hussein, one of his greatest allies abroad. And on the other, the enlargement of the European Union in 2004 to twenty-five countries, including those bordering Poland., Latvia and Lithuania, which host institutions and organizations that oppose the Belarusian government.
In the constitution of Belarus it was established that the duration of the presidential term was restricted to two legislatures. However, Lukashenko announced on September 7, 2004 that a new referendum on constitutional reform would be held, scheduled for October 17, to eliminate said limit. The final result was an approval of 86%, under accusations of electoral fraud.
Third term (2006-2010)
On March 19, 2006, presidential elections were held again. This time, Lukashenko won by an absolute majority of 82.6% of the votes over the leader of the opposition, the conservative Aleksandr Milinkevich.
The electoral campaign was very intense and aggressive. The ruling party accused Milinkévich of being "financed by the United States and Europe", while the opposition denounced that the president was hindering the democratic process. When the results were announced, Milinkevich refused to concede defeat for alleged electoral fraud. Similarly, the OSCE demanded a rerun of the elections and regretted that international observers did not have access to the recount. The Central Election Commission of Belarus assured that there had been no incidents during the voting, a position held by observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Inspired by the orange revolution in Ukraine, the opposition asked its faithful to occupy Minsk's October Square, demanding a repeat of the elections under the banner of a "white revolution." On voting day, they brought together more than 10,000 protesters. But unlike what happened there, Lukashenko was able to suppress the protests. Before the elections, he already announced that he would "break the necks" of those who did not recognize his victory, and then evicted the marches with the support of the police. Consequently, the European Union prohibited him from entering its territory. Months later, some of the opposition leaders who positioned themselves against him ended up in jail, such as the Social Democrat Aleksandr Kazulin.
On September 28, 2008, he called parliamentary elections. Although it allowed the opposition to participate, none won a single seat out of the 110, which once again raised the suspicions of foreign observers. The vast majority (103 seats) went to people with no political ties, but related in some way or another with Lukashenko through an association called Bélaya Rus. The remaining seven went to the Communist Party and the Agrarian Party, loyal to the president.
Lukashenko maintained a high popularity thanks to economic growth and maintenance of benefits for vulnerable people. In addition to guaranteeing advantageous energy agreements with Russia, his main ally, he sought new support such as Iran and Hugo Chávez's Venezuela. However, he tried to open up to Western Europe: in April 2009 he visited Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City, in what was his first trip to the old continent in a decade. In 2010 he joined the Eurasian Customs Union together with Russia and Kazakhstan.
Fourth term (2010-2015)
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The call for the presidential elections was brought forward to December 19, 2010. In the previous months a worsening of the national economy had been perceived, but Lukashenko promised an increase in the minimum wage to 500 dollars to calm things down. Low new accusations of electoral fraud, for which the OSCE observers were even expelled from the country, Lukashenko won with 79.67% of the vote compared to 2.67% for the second, Andrei Sannikov. Immediately after the elections, seven of the nine opponents who showed up (including Sannikov) were detained by the national police. Demonstrators, journalists and members of non-governmental organizations were also arrested. The official inauguration took place on 21 January 2011.
In this tenure, Lukashenko lost popularity due to the worsening economy. Since the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis, Belarus had begun to privatize state-owned companies such as Belaruskali (potassium fertilizers) and the Beltransneft pipeline network, mostly purchased by the Russian Federation. On the other hand, the population was converting their savings from rubles to dollars for fear of a depreciation, even generating currency deficits. The Central Bank announced in May 2011 the devaluation of its currency by 56%: up to 4,930 Belarusian rubles per dollar. Similarly, the prices of consumer goods skyrocketed. These currency problems have continued in later years.
On April 11, 2011, there was a terrorist attack on the Minsk Metro that killed 12 people. A bomb explosion took place near the presidential residence. Lukashenko claimed that the culprits wanted to destabilize the state, and ordered a thorough investigation into the stockpiles of weapons facilities. There were two detainees, sentenced to the death penalty.
Over the ensuing years, the president has maintained tight control to prevent any opposition moves. In 2012, he dismissed several senior military officials and his Foreign Minister for failing to prevent a Swedish plane from flying over the sky over Minsk, dropping teddy bears with messages in favor of human rights. diplomatic conflict between Belarus and Sweden. In the same year, the opposition boycotted the parliamentary elections, claiming that the political prisoners detained in 2010 had not yet been released.
Belarus hosted the Minsk (October 2014) and Minsk II (February 2015) protocol meetings between Russia and the European Union to seek an agreement to end the war in Donbas.
Fifth term (2015-2020)
In the presidential elections of October 11, 2015, Lukashenko won again with a total of 83.47% of the votes, higher than in the 2010 elections.
In mid-September 2017, Lukashenko monitored the progress of joint Russian-Belarusian military relations during military exercises that were part of the Zapad 2017 exercise.
In August 2018, Lukashenko fired his Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov and several other officials due to a corruption scandal. Siarhiej Rumas was appointed to take his place as Prime Minister. In May 2017, Lukashenko signed a decree on the Foundation of the Directorate of the 2019 European Games in Minsk. In April 2019, Lukashenko announced that the games were on budget and on time, eventually opening the second edition of the event on June 21. Between the 1 and 3 July 2019, he oversaw the national celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Minsk offensive.
In August 2019, Lukashenko met former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev, who has lived in exile in Minsk since 2010, at the Independence Palace to mark Bakiev's 70th birthday. The meeting angered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, who stated that the meeting "fundamentally does not comply with the principles of friendship and cooperation between the two countries". On August 29, John Bolton, the Kyrgyz National A national of the United States, he was received by Lukashenko during his visit to Minsk, which was the first of its kind in eighteen years. In November 2019, Lukashenko visited the Austrian capital of Vienna on a state visit, which was the first in three years in a country of the European Union. During the visit, he met with President Alexander Van der Bellen, Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein and National Council Chairman Wolfgang Sobotka. He also paid his respects at the Monument to the Heroes of the Red Army.
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On February 1, 2020, Lukashenko held a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the first meeting of its kind since 1994.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lukashenko chose to follow an immobile strategy, without taking precautionary measures and declaring that «in this life everything is possible. But the important thing is not to panic" and that "what I fear most is that people will become ill with psychosis, because of what happens in the media". He also ordered the State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus (KGB) to investigate the media and websites that "sow panic" by advising to protect oneself from the coronavirus with a "glass of vodka, sauna and work with the tractor in the field».
At the end of May 2020, a series of protests called by the opposition movement against Lukashenko began to denounce the arrest of opponents of Lukashenko at the gates of the presidential elections called for August.
In June 2020, in view of the presidential elections called for August 9, Lukashenko appointed Román Golovchenko as the country's new prime minister. Before the candidate who united the opposition to confront him at the polls, Svetlana Tijanóvskaya, Lukashenko said that a female president would "collapse, poor thing", noting that Belarus "has not matured enough" to vote for a woman.
Sixth term (since 2020)
In the 2020 presidential elections, official data indicated the new victory of Lukashenko with 80.23%, granting the opposition Svetlana Tijanóvskaya 9.9% of the votes. The day after holding the elections, on August 10, Russia and China congratulated Lukashenko on his new re-election.The opposition did not recognize the results and denounced fraud. On election night and the following nights, protests took place in different cities, causing at least one death, several injuries and more than a hundred arrests, according to the NGOs Viasna or Spring. Lukashenko called the opponents "sheep who don't understand what they want from them" and pointed out that the real promoters of the protests, according to him, were Poland, the Czech Republic and elements in Ukraine, Russia or Lithuania. The Lithuanian foreign minister reported on August 11, 2020 that the opposition Tijanóvskaya had taken refuge in this country.
On September 23, Lukashenko was sworn in as President of Belarus for his next term in a short, unannounced sudden inauguration ceremony in Minsk. Foreign Ministers of several countries have stated that they do not consider this to be legitimate swearing in, including Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Estonia, the UK and others. The European Union, through the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, reaffirmed its non-recognition of Lukashenko's legitimacy. he similarly expressed that "the United States cannot consider Aleksandr Lukashenko the legitimately elected leader of Belarus." Following Lukashenko's inauguration, mass opposition protests broke out in Minsk. Protesters used more confrontational tactics than before, blocking some roads and driving away some police vehicles. Police deployed water cannons to disperse protesters, and "masked riot police used tactics not seen since the violent days immediately following the disputed August election."
In June 2021, the European Union agreed to strong sanctions against Belarus. The key sectors of its economy, such as potash, tobacco or refined petroleum products, are in the spotlight; from now on, trading in these sectors is prohibited. The arms embargo was tightened. Dozens of political leaders and officials are also subject to sanctions. They are prohibited from staying on European soil and any assets they may have are confiscated. The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom also announced similar measures.
Policies
Since his rise to power as an independent candidate in the 1994 presidential election, Lukashenko has been known for concentrating the country's power around him. In addition to holding the presidency, he is the Chief Commander of the Belarusian Armed Forces and chairman of the Belarusian Olympic Committee, among other state entities.
Economy
When Lukashenko came to power in 1994, he promised Belarus' economic recovery on the basis of market socialism. Three years earlier, the effects of the transition from the old Soviet model to a capitalist one had caused a decline in the level of of life of the citizens. The industrial sector was in crisis and exports were in free fall due to the lack of foreign demand. In addition, it must be taken into account that the Chernobyl accident of 1986 continued to have negative effects on local agriculture: more than 20% of the field was contaminated.
The president launched a planned economy that recovered elements of the Soviet era, unlike the rest of the former USSR that continued with the reforms. Among other measures he renationalized banking entities, doubled the minimum wage and reintroduced price controls.Twenty years after his ascension, most of the economy was state owned. Thus, 51.2% of Belarusians are employed by public companies, 47.4% are employed by private Belarusian companies (of which 5.7% are partly owned by foreigners), and 1.4 % are employed by foreign companies. However, since the outbreak of the 2008 economic crisis some entities have been privatized. The labor force is made up of more than four million people and full employment is assumed according to state statistics, with an unemployment rate of 1% and an average salary of 400 euros per month. The percentage of people living below the poverty line fell between 1992 and 2020 from 41.9% to 5.6%, according to World Bank data. Health and education are public and free.
A dirigiste economic policy allows Belarus to maintain a dynamic industrial activity (36% of GDP in 2018) and a more important agricultural sector than in the countries of the region. Service activities are also being developed. Although it was designated as a national priority in 2012, tourism is booming thanks to the development of infrastructure between 2011 and 2015. The annual number of tourists went from 60,000 in 2000 to more than eleven million in 2018.
The social model of Belarus continues to be inspired in part by the communist period. The social model promoted by Lukashenko", points out the academic Anna Lebedev, a specialist in post-Soviet societies, "consisted of maintaining public hospital, school and cultural services. Although the health infrastructure is aging, the population benefits from a universal health system with a prevention policy and compulsory visits. The literacy rate is close to 100% and life expectancy increased six years between 2002 and 2018 to reach 74 years. Belarus also has an infant mortality rate of 2.6 per 1,000 births, which is lower than France and Germany.
Belarus depends to a large extent on Russia, its biggest international ally. Belarus industry is highly dependent on the Russians for the import of raw materials, especially oil and gas, which the Federation supplies it at negotiated prices In total, they account for almost 60% of imports and 33% of exports. Belarus has specialized its economy in industry, heavy machinery (especially tractors), agricultural vehicles, and oil refining. Since 2006, the Union The European Union has become an important partner, with which it carries out almost a third of foreign trade. It is also a member of the cooperative energy program "INOGATE".
The gross domestic product (GDP) grew again in 1996, when the level of exports recovered. This has led the Government to place more emphasis on its use for social welfare and state subsidies. During the 2000s, GDP has been growing by an average of more than five percentage points, with peaks of 10% in 1997 and 2004. As for GDP per capita, it has gone from $1,400 in 1993 to $5,700 in 2013. Progress has stalled during the 2008 economic crisis. The state has received credits from the International Monetary Fund, China and other international agencies, conditional on the implementation of economic reforms.
After the economic recovery, one of Lukashenko's biggest challenges was the crisis unleashed by the devaluation of the Belarusian ruble in 2011. In previous months, citizens were converting their savings from rubles to dollars out of fear of a depreciation, even generating a foreign exchange deficit. The devaluation has caused an increase in inflation of more than 108% and a reduction in the minimum wage.
International relations
Russia
Since its election in 1994, Belarus has been an ally of Russia in the international arena. The two maintain first-rate trade relations, largely because it depends on them for imports of raw materials and exports. The most important agreements that they have sealed are the Union of Russia and Belarus ("State of the Union"), a supranational confederation established in 1997; the Eurasian Economic Community (2000) and the Eurasian Customs Union. Belarus was already a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since its foundation.
Relations between Lukashenko and the Russian government have deteriorated in recent years. During the pro-Russian protests in Ukraine in 2014, the president has criticized the referendums in Donbas, while giving his support to the Kiev government, his international role was reinforced as a mediator between presidents Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko. Between 2014 and 2015, the capital hosted the Minsk (October 2014) and Minsk II (February 2015) protocol meetings to seek an end to the Donbas war. price of Russian oil and gas exports to Belarus. The country receives subsidized crude from Russia and, after refining it, sells it to third countries at market price, Moscow has denounced. In 2020, it is estimated that the weight of Russian subsidies in the Belarusian economy may reach 15% of GDP.
On the other hand, at the beginning of the electoral campaign for the 2020 presidential elections, the Gazprom gas consortium was accused of trying to destabilize Belarus in retaliation against Lukashenko for opposing the signing of the State Union treaty with Russia. On the other hand, during the last leg of the campaign in July, 33 alleged Russian mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, linked to the Kremlin, were arrested.
European Union
In the diplomatic field, Lukashenko plays with the strategic position of Belarus on the map, halfway between Western Europe and Russia. With the European Union he has maintained episodes of tension, fueled by allegations of persecution of rivals, the systematic violation of human rights, the expulsion of ambassadors and the OSCE reports. Even in 2010 it was prohibited from entering any member state for alleged repression. Since the EU adopted its "change through compromise" policy, Lukashenko has approached positions with timid reforms. Today, he has trade agreements with several European nations, including his neighbors Lithuania, Poland, and Latvia.
United States
Bilateral relations with the United States have been even more complicated due to the fact that the State Department supports the opposition and the government of Belarus made it difficult for US agencies to establish themselves there. However, on February 1 In 2020, Lukashenko held a meeting with United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the first meeting of its kind since 1994 and before the 2020 presidential election in which Lukashenko was seeking a sixth term, normalized. the ties between Washington and Minsk agreeing on the return of the ambassador after twelve years of absence and the shipment of a first consignment of American oil to fill the void left by Russian oil.
China and other countries
Belarus has increased cooperation with the People's Republic of China, reinforced by an official visit in October 2005. It has strong ties with Syria and Iran, countries that Lukashenko considers key partners in the Middle East, with Venezuela for the purchase of raw materials and with other states of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP). Previously, it maintained good relations with Iraq and Yugoslavia, in the times when Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević ruled, respectively.
Disputes
Under his tenure, the Belarusian government has been repeatedly denounced for repeated human rights violations. Actions have been reported against Zubr activists, independent journalists, media media and rival politicians. It is also the only state in Eastern Europe to maintain the death penalty. It has been described as "Europe's last dictator".
Lukashenko himself has described his way of governing as "authoritarian".
«It characterizes me a style of authoritarian rule, and I have always admitted it (...) you need to control the country, and the main thing is not to harm people's lives.»
Since his rise to power in 1994, he has won every election and referendum in which he has run with more than 70% of the vote. Such numbers have made the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe accuses him of "electoral fraud". The first time this happened was in 1996, with the constitutional reform consultation in which the president was endowed with broad powers. Although at the beginning there was a presidential limit of two legislatures, Lukashenko abolished it in 2004 through another referendum to consolidate power. European observers have systematically denounced the high number of "early votes", the impossibility of accessing the recount in several cities and little publicity from opposition leaders.
Several members of the opposition have been imprisoned under his mandate, allegedly for political reasons. In December 2010, the day after the election, seven of the nine rival candidates were arrested for disorderly conduct following a demonstration. Among them was Andrei Sénnikov, co-founder of the opposition entity Charter 97 and former foreign minister under Lukashenko between 1995 and 1996. Sannikov was pardoned in 2012. On the other hand, he has also been accused of corruption and nepotism, something he has always denied.
The recovery of a model based on market socialism worsened its relations with the United States, which during the 1990s defended the direct implementation of capitalist measures for the transition after the collapse of the USSR. This is not limited to the economic field: in 1995 the national symbols were changed to others similar to those of the Soviet republic, and some official organizations such as the State Security Agency maintain the previous name (KGB). Lukashenko has always been proud to have been the only politician to vote against the dissolution of the USSR, using the growth Belarus has achieved since independence under the socialist model to his advantage. When the international community has sanctioned him for authoritarian positions, he has in turn accused them of "conspiracy" against the country he represents. The accusations of foreign financing of the opposition have been made not only against the US. and the EU, but also to Russia when relations between the two have worsened.
Lukashenko has also stood out for his controversial statements, which range from political accusations, sexist or homophobic statements to simple disqualification. In 2012, two days after the leaders of the European Union called for international sanctions against Belarus for its alleged violations of human rights, he declared "it is better to be a dictator than to be gay". This phrase was a personal attack on German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who called him "the last dictator in Europe". ».
He has also been singled out for boasting about being macho. After the presentation of Svetlana Tijanóvskaya as a candidate for the 2020 presidential elections, he said that a woman "would never be president of Belarus" and that she was a "poor girl" who «he doesn't even know where he is (...) it's very little thing».
On the other hand, he has minimized and ridiculed the severity of COVID-19. Among other statements he made, he assured that after contracting the disease he overcame it without problem and to overcome it he advised "work hard in the field, take a sauna and some vodka". The mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to analysts, is one of the causes of the increase in opposition in the country along with low wages and lack of of liberties. As of August 6, 2020, Belarus had declared 68,000 infected and 580 deaths from coronavirus.
Religion
Aleksandr Lukashenko in various interviews defined himself as a "Orthodox Cultural Christian", that is, an atheist with values and morals based on the dictates of the Orthodox Church.
Personal life
Aleksandr Lukashenko lives separately. His first wife was Galina Radzivónauna (neé Zhelnerovich), whom he married in 1975. Officially the marriage has not broken up, but it is notorious that they have not been together for several years. With Galina he had his first two children, both involved in politics: Víktor (1975), one of those responsible for state security, and Dmitri (1980), a member of the Belarusian Olympic Committee and director of various state businesses.
The president has had a third child, Nikolai "Kolya" Lukashenko (2004). For years the identity of the mother has been unknown, until in 2008 she admitted that she was Irina Abélskaya, his former personal doctor. appeared at many official events since the 2010s, sometimes wearing a tailor-made suit. Although it has been reported that the father wants him to follow in his footsteps, he has strongly denied it in the country's official media.
Apart from politics, Aleksandr Lukashenko is passionate about ice hockey. On the occasion of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Belarusian led two teams for a friendly match in which renowned athletes such as Pável Bure and Viacheslav Fetísov collaborated.
Awards
- SubcoronelPodpolkóvnik) of Soviet border troops
- Commander-in-Chief of the Belarusian Armed Forces
- Chairman of the Belarus Olympic Committee
- Medal of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow (1997, Russia)
- José Martí (2000, Cuba)
- Revolution Order (2000, Libya)
- Ilustre Citizen of Yerevan (2001, Armenia)
- Order to Merit for the Homeland, Second Class (2001, Russia)
- Diploma of Honor of the Eurasian Economic Community (2006)
- First-class Knight of the Order of St. Vladimiro (2007, Russia)
- Collar de la Orden del Libertador (2007, Venezuela)
- Order Francisco de Miranda (2010, Venezuela)
- Order of the Republic of Serbia (2013, Serbia)
- Order of Alexander Nevski (2014, Russia)
- Order of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev (2019, Kazakhstan)
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