A carnival float featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin handling Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko like a puppet, is presented in the center of Cologne, western Germany, on February 28, 2022, where a “Freedom for Ukraine” demonstration took place instead of the traditional carnival Rose Monday procession.
Ina Fassbender/AFP
Caught between reliance on the Kremlin and strong antiwar sentiments at home, Alexander Lukashenko is treading a fine line on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Since 2020, Belarus and Russia have accelerated moves towards integration.
Pictorial Press Ltd | Alamy Stock Photo
By allowing Russian military presence in Belarus, president Aliaksandr Lukashenka has forfeited his country’s sovereignty.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, left, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 18, 2022.
Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Belarus’ alliance with Russia is a strategic factor in the Ukraine war. The country’s long-term dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has indicated he will do as Russian President Vladimir Putin says.
Hopes for a better future?
Maxim Guchek/BELTA/AFP via Getty Images
Belarus has created a migrant crisis at its border in an apparent move to punish the European Union for its opposition to the country’s leader.
h.
The crisis at the Belarus/Poland border follows 18 months of political turmoil for the country’s authoritarian president.
Protests have highlighted Lukashenko’s aggression toward dissent.
SOPA Images Limited / Alamy Stock Photo
Recent actions against critics of the Belarusian government show that Lukashenko’s crackdown on dissent is extending beyond the country’s borders.
Biden is expected to confront Russian leader Vladimir Putin (center) over his stalwart backing of Europe’s last dictator, Alexander Lukashenko (left).
From left to right: Sergei Ilyin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images and Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Some tension was inevitable at the June 16 US-Russia summit. But Vladimir Putin’s defiant support for Belarus’s rogue regime now pits him harder against the West.
Belarus’ leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has gone to extraordinary measures to cling to power. Last weekend, this included the state-sanctioned hijacking of a passenger plane.
In exile or prison: Belarus opposition figures Svetlana Tikhanovsksaya, Veronika Tsepkalo and Maria Kolesnikova.
Natalia Fedosenko/TASS/Alamy Live News
Opposition protests continue and there are signs they are beginning to have an effect both inside and outside Belarus.
An artist’s illustration of the aeroshell containing NASA’s Perseverance rover guiding itself towards the surface of Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Plus what protesters in Belarus want to happen next. Episode 1 of The Conversation’s new weekly podcast.
Protesters on the streets of Minsk, the Belarus capital, demand the resignation of the president, Alexander Luksashenko.
EPA-EFE/STR
Hundreds of thousands of people have protested the regime of Alexander Lukashenko over the last six months – a new survey reveals what they want.
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko takes the oath of office during an unannounced inauguration ceremony Sept. 23 in Minsk.
Andrei Stasevich\TASS via Getty Images
Has Europe’s last dictator finally gone too far?
Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled Belarusian opposition candidate, speaking at the EU parliament on September 21.
Stephanie Lecocq/EPA
Why haven’t international and European human rights organisations done more to protect the human rights of Belarusians?
Watch the body language: Alexander Lukashenko meets Vladimir Putin in Sochi on September 14.
Kremlin Handout/EPA
Belarus’s economy is closely linked to Russia. Could Putin’s support for Lukashenko during ongoing protests be in turn for more integration.
Student protesters detained in Minsk.
EPA
A new survey conducted just before the disputed election, shows how the views of young Belarusians are changing.
Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA-EFE
People have lost all faith in Lukashenko to fix the country’s economy.
Deploying riot police to suppress peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators in Belarus turned more people against the country’s autocratic leader.
AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File
Pres. Lukashenka of Belarus has stayed in power for 26 years by being a master tactician. But he has seriously mishandled opposition protests, says a Belarus-born scholar of Eastern European politics.