In power for 30 years Lukashenko shows himself to be unscrupulous and loyal to Moscow

He secures his rule by closing ranks with Russia and suppressing all opposition. Three decades after taking office, Belarusian head of state Lukashenko is still firmly in the saddle.

Over the past three decades, dozens of heads of state and government have come and gone in Europe. But Alexander Lukashenko is still stubbornly holding on to power in Belarus. The reasons for this are his crackdown on critics, his control of the economy and other Soviet-era methods, as well as his cozy relationship with Russia.

Early on in his time in office, the now 69-year-old Lukashenko was referred to as "Europe's last dictator". And he has lived up to this name. On Saturday (tomorrow) he will have been in power for 30 years - as one of the longest-ruling and most unscrupulous heads of state in the world. As head of the country between Russia, Ukraine and the NATO states of Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, he was re-elected for a sixth term in 2020. Critics at home and Western governments consider the result to be rigged.

The election was followed by months of mass protests against Lukashenko, which were violently suppressed. Tens of thousands were arrested. Many members of the opposition are still in prison or have fled the country of 9.5 million inhabitants. Lukashenko took the subsequent Western sanctions and isolation in his stride. He has now announced his intention to run for a seventh five-year term in office next year.

He owes his political longevity to a mix of cunning, brutality and loyal political and economic support from his most important ally, Russia. Most recently, he allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine. He later agreed to the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

"Lukashenko has turned Russia into a fragment of the USSR that is not only dangerous for its own citizens, but also threatens its western neighbors with nuclear weapons," says independent political expert Valery Karbalevich. He describes the Belarusian ruler as "one of the most experienced post-Soviet politicians, who has learned to play both with the mood of the Kremlin and with the fears of his own population."

The former director of a sovkhoz was first elected in July 1994, just two and a half years after Belarus gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He promised to fight corruption and raise the standard of living again, which had collapsed as a result of chaotic reforms. As an admirer of the Soviet Union, he quickly strengthened relations with Russia.

Under Lukashenko, the Belarusian secret service, the KGB, retained its Soviet-era name. Belarus is also the only country in Europe where the death penalty is still carried out. In 1999 and 2000, four prominent critics of the head of state disappeared. An investigation by the Council of Europe came to the conclusion that they were abducted and killed by death squads with close contacts to the state leadership. The authorities ignored European calls to bring those suspected of being responsible to justice.

Describes himself as a dictator

"Lukashenko has never cared about his reputation," says Anatoly Lebedko, leader of the now banned United Civic Party of Belarus. "He likes to call himself a dictator and boasts of being a pariah, even when he was publicly accused of political killings and other crimes."

With constitutional amendments, the president brought parliament under his control, lifted term limits and expanded his power through elections that the West did not recognize as free or fair. Post-vote protests were quickly broken up by the police and the organizers were jailed.

Its Soviet-style planned economy is heavily dependent on Russian subsidies. "Instead of helping Belarus, cheap Russian oil and gas have become its curse, allowing Lukashenko to make windfall profits from oil exports to Europe and freeze the situation in Belarus," says Alexander Milinkevich, who ran against Lukashenko in the 2006 election.

Thousands beaten up in police custody

At the same time, the Belarusian president repeatedly tried to appease the West by easing repression. Before the 2020 election, the EU and the USA had lifted some sanctions after Belarus released political prisoners. The balancing act ended after the vote, which led to the largest protests in the country's history. As a result, more than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten up in police custody and hundreds of independent media companies and non-governmental organizations were closed and banned.

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who had challenged Lukashenko in the vote and subsequently fled into exile, says that the election showed once and for all that the head of state had lost the support of the majority of the population. "Lukashenko survived mainly because of Russia, which offered him information, financial and even military support at the height of the protests," she explains.

According to the leading Belarusian human rights group Vyazna, there are around 1,400 political prisoners across the country. Among them is the founder of the organization and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bjaljazki, who, like other opposition members, is being held incommunicado.

Lukashenko has appeared visibly less vital than before for several years, but denies rumors of health problems. "I'm not going to die," he said last year. "I will have to put up with me for quite a long time."

dpa