The scene of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is filled with many political and military faces, after the crisis attracted various countries of the world and Europe in particular, and while the names of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy are considered the most widely circulated in the media, the names of leaders and other personalities play a role in the events.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, who has been attacked by the West for years because of internal conditions, is seen by European countries, the United States and Japan as being involved in the war in Ukraine for hosting Russian forces in his country. He has been subject to western sanctions mainly for his alliance with Putin, and his permission to use the territory of Belarus to attack Ukraine.
Since the arrival of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to power in Belarus in 1994, he has been going against the tide. He carried the banners of communism as it breathed its last in the Soviet space, and rejected the privatization programs and the transition to individual ownership, when the "Market’s Economy" was invading the tired legacy of decades of state control over all the affairs of the country.
He fought his opponents vigorously and imprisoned them, ignoring the winds of change and democracy that swept the region around him. Hence, he maintained the firm grip of the monstrous KGB - refusing even to change its name - while his neighbors masterfully demonstrated their determination to get rid of everything linking their country to the recent Soviet past.
The stubborn farmer rode the wave of fighting corruption, organized crime and "mafias" that nearly devastated the body of Belarus, to seize control of the reins of power, and turn it in a quarter of a century into what looks like a miniature Soviet republic that is almost self-sufficient, but isolated.
The story of Lukashenko's rise to power in Belarus begins in 1990. At the time, he was in his late 30s and was a promising young military man who had just won an election to a parliamentary seat in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. Lukashenko held posts in the Soviet Army and membership in the Soviet communist youth wing. In 1993, he was named head of the Belarusian parliament's anti-corruption commission.
Lukashenko revealed early on his views and ambitions, although at that time they were controversial and conflicting. He did not hesitate to publish a remarkable article in 1991 under the title "Dictatorship: The Belarusian Option", which was transformed into a "manifesto" or a "road map" that he was able to implement over subsequent years.
He was the only deputy in the Belarusian parliament that voted against the "December 1991" agreement, which formed the legal basis for the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the "Commonwealth of Independent States" on its ruins. Since he contributed to the founding of a parliamentary bloc called "Communists for Democracy", it was clear that he chose the most difficult path, but he remained consistent with his ideas, which were later reflected in all his policies throughout his tenure in power for five consecutive presidential terms.
In return for the tense relationship with the West over many years, Lukashenko maintained close ties with the "big brother" Russia, and in 1996 signed an agreement to establish a union between the two countries. However, the agreement remained locked up for three years, due to the categorical rejection by the Belarusian president of Moscow's demands to open the basic economic sectors in his country to privatization processes that would allow the entry of major Russian companies into them.
On more than one occasion, Lukashenko drew comparisons with the "disastrous results" of the "random privatization" that Russia experimented with in the early 1990s and vowed that "he will never allow thieves to plunder the wealth of his country," referring to the money whales who accumulated fabulous fortunes in Russia, and set their eyes on the neighboring country later.
This knot constituted one of the problems that brought the union between Russia and Belarus into a stalemate. But at the same time, the two countries maintained a kind of "special relationship" that was prompted by the strategic need of each side, whereas Russia is the most important gateway to the world for Belarus, which is isolated and surrounded by many restrictions, and Belarus is for Moscow the “barrier wall” separating it from Europe in conditions of deteriorating relations, strengthening militarism policies and mobilizing energies on both sides of the border.
"My life, just like the lives of other presidents, is very busy. You wake up and keep running. What does it feel like to be on the run for 25 years? I got used to it. This hamster wheel keeps spinning, and there is no escaping it. If you stop, it will keep moving and throw you back. This is a mode of life. I am used to it." says a quote from Lukashenko displayed on his official online biography.
