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Who is Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus?

2021-08-13T09:30:05.782Z


Arrests, exiles and repression mark the latest news from Alexander Lukashenko's Belarus. Here are some facts that you may not have known about the authoritarian president of this former Soviet republic.


Activist cuts throat in Belarusian court 0:55

(CNN) -

 Arrests, exiles and repression mark the latest news from Alexander Lukashenko's Belarus.

Here are some facts that you may not have known about the authoritarian president of this former Soviet republic.

Basic data

Date of birth

: August 30, 1954 (some sources say August 31)

Place of birth:

Kopys, Belarus

Full Name:

Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko

Father:

Name not publicly available

Mother:

Yekaterina Lukashenko, milkmaid

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Marriage:

Galina (Zhelnerovich) Lukashenko (1975-present)

Children:

With Galina (Zhelnerovich) Lukashenko: Viktor and Dmitry;

with Irina Abelskaya: Nikolai "Kolya"

Education:

History at Mogilev Pedagogical Institute (now A. Kuleshov Mogilev State University), 1975;

Economics at the Belarusian Agricultural Academy, 1985

Military service:

Soviet Army

Religion:

He has called himself an "orthodox atheist"

It has ruled Belarus, a country between Russia and Poland that is a member of the European Union, and an essential trade route from east to west, for more than a quarter of a century.

He was elected president in Belarus' first democratic election in 1994, but subsequent elections have been marred by accusations of heavy-handed tactics and voting irregularities and were won by suspiciously wide margins.

He has been described as "the last dictator in Europe".

Lukashenko has maintained his country's close political ties with Russia, restricted opposition movements and censored the media.

  • Arrests, desertions and exiles: what is happening in Lukashenko's Belarus?

Chronology

1975-1977 - He

was drafted into the army and serves as an instructor in the border guard along the western border of Belarus.

1980-1982 -

Serves in the Soviet Army.

1987-1994 -

Head of the Gorodets state farm in the Mogilev region.

1990-1994 -

Member of the Supreme Council of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR), where he becomes a deputy and later founds a faction called Communists for Democracy.

1991 -

Only member of the Belarusian Parliament who voted against the agreement leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

July 10, 1994 - He

is elected President of Belarus with 80% of the vote, defeating Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich in the country's first presidential elections.

May 1995 - He

is behind a referendum that increases integration with Russia, which includes equating the Russian language to Belarusian and replacing the national flag and state symbols with ones similar to those of the former Soviet Union.

The referendum also gives Lukashenko the right to dissolve Parliament.

November 1996 - He

is behind a referendum that revises the Constitution to give more authority to the presidency, including limiting the authority of the Constitutional Court and extending Lukashenko's presidential term.

An impeachment effort fails and Lukashenko signs a new constitution.

1997-2021 -

Head of the Belarusian Olympic Committee.

1999 -

Signs a treaty that makes Belarus a "state of union" with Russia.

September 9, 2001 -

President is reelected with 75% of the votes.

October 2004 -

A referendum is passed to eliminate presidential term limits.

April 20, 2005 - US

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refers to Belarus as "the last true dictatorship left in the heart of Europe," in an interview with CNN.

March 2006 -

President is reelected with more than 80% of the votes.

December 2010 -

President is reelected with almost 80% of the votes.

October 2015 -

President is reelected with 83.5% of the votes.

March 28, 2020 - He

talks about the coronavirus after playing ice hockey in front of a crowded stadium in Minsk, Belarus.

Without specifying scientific evidence, it says that the "refrigerator" -like area is a "true anti-viral cure."

March 29, 2020 -

Recommends that people not only drink vodka, but wash their hands with it and take saunas to combat the coronavirus.

  • EU says Lukashenko is not the legitimate president of Belarus

July 28, 2020 -

Lukashenko says he contracted coronavirus but recovered without suffering any symptoms, according to a report by state news agency Belta.

He has repeatedly rejected the threat posed by COVID-19, promoted home remedies and refused to shut down his country, making Belarus an outlier in Europe.

August 9, 2020 -

Lukashenko is re-elected with 80% of the votes.

His main opposition candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, receives about 10%.

She replaced her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, after he was jailed in May in the run-up to the elections.

Riots occur.

August 10, 2020 -

Demonstrations resume.

Around 3,000 people are detained and dozens are injured during clashes with the police, the Interior Ministry says in a statement seen by the state news agency Belta.

Tikhanovskaya rejects the preliminary election results and lodges a complaint with the Belarusian central electoral committee demanding a vote recount.

She leaves for Lithuania shortly after.

August 16, 2020 -

Lukashenko gives a speech to an estimated crowd of less than 10,000 followers, according to the CNN team in Minsk, Belarus.

It claims that Belarus is being threatened by foreign interference.

At the same time, the protesters are demanding a new presidential election, in an estimated crowd of 50,000 according to the CNN team.

August 17, 2020 - He

visits a factory in Minsk, Belarus, according to videos posted online by local media, and addresses the elections.

"You talk about dishonest elections and you want to hold new elections," he tells the protesting workers.

"We are holding the elections and until they kill me, there will be no new elections."

The crowd yells: "Yes, yes without you."

September 19, 2020 -

430 people are detained in electoral protests in Belarus, according to the Belarusian Ministry of the Interior.

Of these, 415 are in the capital, Minsk.

Some 385 people were released on September 20.

September 23, 2020 -

Lukashenko assumes the presidency for the sixth consecutive term in an unannounced ceremony in Minsk, Belarus, according to state media reports.

Opposition politicians describe the ceremony as a "gathering of thieves" and a "farce."

The United States and several countries of the European Union issue statements in which they reject the legitimacy of Lukashenko's victory.

September 24, 2020 -

The European Union publishes a statement on the presidential elections in Belarus.

"The European Union does not recognize their falsified results. On this basis, the so-called 'inauguration' of September 23, 2020 and the new mandate claimed by Aleksandr Lukashenko lack democratic legitimacy."

December 7, 2020 -

Following an investigation "On Athletes, Officials and Sports in Belarus", the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspends the Executive Board of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee "from all IOC events and activities, including Olympic Games".

Lukashenko's choice of his son Viktor Lukashenko to replace him as president of the Belarusian Olympic Committee is not recognized, according to an IOC statement dated March 8, 2021.

  • Lukashenko sent troops to the western border of Belarus in response to the West's stance regarding the recent elections.

May 23, 2021 -

A Ryanair flight traveling from Athens to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius is intercepted and forced to land in Minsk, Belarus, as it is about to begin its descent. When it lands, prominent opposition activist Roman Protasevich and his Russian partner Sofia Sapega, who are on the flight, are detained. Protasevich is one of dozens of journalists and activists campaigning in exile against Lukashenko's 26-year rule. Lukashenko later claims that the flight was diverted due to a bomb threat that originated in Switzerland, allegations that the Swiss authorities refute. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda told CNN that the email indicating a bomb threat was sent 30 minutes after Lithuanian officials received the signal from Minsk to land the plane.

May 24, 2021 -

The European Union calls on airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace, responding to the forced landing of the Ryanair flight.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the bloc is "closing our airspace to Belarusian planes" and calls on EU airlines not to fly over the country.

He adds that "more economic sanctions will be presented soon."

  • Detained Belarusian dissident appears in video as fury grows over

    Ryanair flight

    "

    hijacking"

May 24, 2021 -

The US National Security Council publishes the text of a call between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and the leader of the democratic opposition Tikhanovskaya.

Sullivan "strongly condemned the brazen and dangerous landing of a Ryanair flight between two EU member states on May 23 and the subsequent deportation and arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich."

He demands the immediate release of Protasevich, fair elections and declares "that the United States, in coordination with the EU and other allies and partners, will hold the Lukashenko regime accountable."

  • Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says the defected Olympic sprinter was "manipulated"

May 27, 2021 -

The International Civil Aviation Organization says it will carry out an investigation into the flight diversion, while at least two European airlines say they were denied permission to fly to Moscow by Russian authorities after they requested to fly. on an alternative route without passing through Belarusian airspace.

May 28, 2021 -

Russian President Vladimir Putin cements his support for Lukashenko at a meeting, saying that the West's reaction to the interception and crash landing of an airliner "was a burst of emotion."

On the same day, US aviation authorities warned airlines "to exercise extreme caution" when flying over Belarus.

August 9, 2021 -

While answering questions from local and foreign media, Lukashenko denies that there is state repression in Belarus.

In response to a question about the repression and imprisonment of political opponents, Lukashenko accuses the United States of "anarchy," citing the January 6 insurrection and invoking false claims about the outcome of the US presidential elections.

Alexander LukashenkoInstaNews

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-08-13

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