Lukashenko & Putin’s Alliance: The Truth Behind the Unlikely Friendship

Lukashenko and Putin have been close of late. They were not always this close, however. Lukashenko condemned the Crimean annexation and always believed in Belarusian independence from Russia. Not many know that. He has been highly critical of Putin’s imperialist behavior in the past.

So, what changed?

Photo by Reiseuhu on Unsplash

It is no secret that Lukashenko is an autocrat. Many have come to call him Europe’s “last dictator.” His police state is reminiscent of Joseph Stalin’s surveillance in the Soviet Union. Many who oppose his rule have to flee to Ukraine and Poland, such as Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled opposition leader, who has rightly claimed to have won the democratic vote in 2020.

It was not always like this in Belarus, however. Like Putin, Lukashenko initially promised to bring change.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Belarus became a comparatively prosperous formerly Soviet country. In comparison to Ukraine and Warsaw Pact countries, Belarus was experiencing an economic boom and steady industrial growth in the 1990s. Political dissent was also tolerated. Lukashenko was warmly welcomed as an alternative to USSR hegemony. In parks, schools, and workplaces, making fun of Lukashenko was common and relatively frequent. You could see the kind of harmless…