In the 21 years under Alexander Lukashenko’s rule, Belarus in many ways has seemed little different than the Soviet republic it once was. The economy remains largely state-controlled.
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He’s expected to sweep Sunday’s presidential election again – for the fifth time in a row.
Elections in 2010 ended with a violent crackdown on protesters and the jailing of Mr Lukashenko’s rivals. A few were imprisoned for long periods, one of whom was released only this August.
Recently, Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko – despised for crushing dissent and sidelining the political opposition – has played a valuable host for worldwide negotiations and freed political prisoners. His earthy provincial accent and knack for folklore augment his man-of-the-people aura.
After it was announced she had received the prize Alexievich sat surrounded by journalists and once again took the opportunity to emphasize Soviet and post-Soviet continuity in tragedy.
The 61-year-old president has three sons: 39-year old Viktor, an adviser on the national security council; Dmitry, 35, a functionary with the national Olympic committee; and 11-year-old Nikolai, also known as Kolya.
Facing the West, Lukashenko’s incarceration of Belarussian political opponents has led to his global isolation and the imposition of Western sanctions on the country’s officials following the disputed polls in 2010.
HE IS only 11 but has already met the Pope, posed for photographs with President Barack Obama, presided over military parades and attended speeches by world leaders at the United Nations general assembly.
“Lukashenko is scared”, said analyst Valery Karbalevich. “There is no choice, but there is the choice not to be a sheep”, said Anatoly Lebedko, a leading opposition figure at an anti-government rally on Saturday that attracted a crowd in the low hundreds. “When the father was dragging the boy along with him, it caused sympathy, now that he is a teenager, it is not amusing anymore”.
Alexievich also sees the Belarussian leader as capitalising from the current tensions between Moscow and Brussels over the conflict in Ukraine by acting as a mediator, hosting peace talks in Minsk between Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists.
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But with the Ukraine crisis souring relations between Vladimir Putin and the West, Mr Lukashenko has emerged as a preferable ally. For today’s Russian Federation and its environs, a land of sad but fascinating social and moral experiments, Alexievich’s method-and her choice as a Nobel laureate-are particularly apt.
