Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday congratulated his loyal ally in a message, highlighting his contribution to friendly relations between the two countries.
Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko is celebrating 30 years in power on Saturday thanks to the political, economic and military support of the Kremlin, which transformed the former Soviet republic into a protectorate, involving it in the war in Ukraine and in opposition to NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his loyal ally in a message on Saturday, highlighting his contribution to friendly relations between the two countries and the creation of a state union with Russia, an integration mechanism that paves the way for the transfer of sovereignty to your neighbor.
“Lukashenko does not rule Belarus, he only manages its territory. All decisions are made in the Kremlin,” exiled opposition leader Pavel Latushko, former Minister of Culture, told Efe.
Lukashenko rules his country like the state farm (sovkhoz) he headed for seven years before seizing power on 20 July 1994. At 69, he is already Europe’s longest-serving leader.
With the fight against corruption as his banner, Lukashenko won the elections and established a system in which the KGB – the only former Soviet republic where the secret police retains this name – violently represses any hint of dissent.
“He came into office in the midst of deep social problems. Belarusians accepted a populist who promised solutions and opted for an alliance with Russia,” the opposition leader explains.
Since then, he has earned the nickname “Europe’s last dictator” and his country is the only one on the continent where the death penalty is still applied.
Lukashenko was nearly ousted in the massive anti-election fraud protests of 2020, but held on thanks to invaluable help from Putin and now, despite not being recognised by the West, plans to run again in 2025.
“Neither the Americans, nor the Poles, nor the Europeans. We do not care about their opinion, although we are ready to listen to it. We work for the people,” he said on the eve of the elections.
The opposition in exile maintains that the regime is based on three pillars: Putin, the fear and dependence of Belarusians on the paternalistic state and its quasi-planned economy, fueled by subsidized Russian hydrocarbons.
“Lukashenko is running something similar to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. As in the days of the USSR, everything is agreed with Moscow. Foreign and defence policy is completely dependent on the Kremlin,” Latushko said.
As a token of gratitude to Putin, Lukashenko allowed Russian troops to use Belarusian territory in February 2022 as a platform to invade Ukraine, making him an accomplice to the military campaign and an enemy of kyiv.
Subsequently, using the NATO threat argument, Moscow deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus as a deterrent, and Putin equated a possible aggression against the neighbouring country with an attack on Russia.
However, according to the opposition, 97% of Belarusians oppose integration with Russia and more than 80% oppose the involvement of their army in the war in Ukraine.
The opposition denounces that Lukashenko created “a totalitarian system” for 30 years in which he captured tens of thousands of people, spent more than half a million people in exile, destroyed all independent communication channels and extinguished the eleven legal political parties and around 1,660. non-governmental organizations.
According to the human rights organization Viasna (Spring), around 1,400 political prisoners are being held in Belarusian prisons, including its founder and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski.
In the past two years, at least six activists have died behind bars.
Latushko told Efe that the Polish prosecutor’s office, where he is in exile, has opened an investigation into assassination attempts against him by a foreign secret service.
The opposition leader also pointed out that an independent poll estimates that 65% of Belarusians support democracy in the last Stalinist bastion in Europe.
Source: Observadora
