Alexander Lukashenko is the president of Belarus since the establishment of the office on 20 July 1994.
Let’s find out some trivia and facts about him.
- His full name is Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko
- He was born 31 August 1954
- He is a Belarusian politician
- He has been serving as the president of Belarus since the establishment of the office on 20 July 1994
- Thus, making him the longest serving and longest current serving European president
- Before his political career, Lukashenko worked as director of a state farm (sovkhoz)
- He served in the Soviet Border Troops and in the Soviet Army.
- Lukashenko continued state ownership of key industries in Belarus after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
- He retained important Soviet-era symbolism
- This can be seen in the coat of arms and national flag of Belarus
- The flag was adopted following a controversial 1995 referendum, which were based on the symbols of the Byelorussian SSR
- Following the same referendum, Lukashenko was given more power with the ability to dismiss the Supreme Soviet of Belarus
- Another referendum in 1996 allowed Lukashenko to further consolidate power
- The Russian language was also given the same status as Belarusian
- Economic ties with Russia were strengthened, which furthermore led to the creation of the Union State with Russia
- This allows Belarusians to freely travel to, work, and study in Russia, and vice versa
- However, relations with Russia have not always run smoothly under his tenure, such as during the Milk War
- Lukashenko heads an authoritarian government and has referred to himself as the “last dictator” in Europe
- Elections are not considered to be free and fair by international monitors
- Opponents of the regime are repressed, and the media is not free
- Leading to sanctions on Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials being imposed
- His disputed victory in the country’s 2020 presidential election led to widespread allegations of vote rigging
- These strongly amplified anti-government protests, the largest during his rule
- Following the contested election, Lukashenko is not recognized by the United Kingdom, the European Union, or the United States as the legitimate president of Belarus
- Although he remains recognized by a number of states including Russia, China, Iran, Armenia, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba
- Lukashenko was born on 31 August 1954 in the settlement of Kopys in the Vitebsk Oblast of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
- Starting with an interview given in 2009 Lukashenko has said that his actual birthday is 31 August
- The same day as his son’s Nikolai’s
- This caused some confusion as all official sources had said 30 August 1954 up until then
- An explanation was later given that his mother had entered the hospital on the 30th in labor but not given birth until after midnight
- His maternal grandfather, Trokhym Ivanovich Lukashenko, had been born in the Sumy Oblast of Ukraine near Shostka
- Lukashenko grew up without a father in his childhood
- Leading him to be taunted by his schoolmates for having an unmarried mother
- Due to this, the origin of his patronymic Grigorevich is unknown and there are various rumors about who Lukashenko’s father might have been
- The most popular version being that he was a Roma passing through the region
- His mother, Ekaterina Trofimovna Lukashenko (1924–2015), gave birth to another son, Alexander’s older brother who died
- Ekaterina worked unskilled jobs on a railway, at a construction site, at a flax factory in Orsha
- Finally as a milkmaid in Alexandria, a small village in the east of Belarus, close to the Russian border
- Lukashenko went to Alexandria secondary school
- He graduated from the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute (now Mogilev State A. Kuleshov University) in 1975
- After 4 years studying there
- He graduated from the Belarusian Agricultural Academy in Horki in 1985
- He served in the Border Guard (frontier troops) from 1975 to 1977
- There he was an instructor of the political department of military unit No. 2187 of the Western Frontier District in Brest and in the Soviet Army from 1980 to 1982
- In addition, he led an All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) chapter in Mogilev from 1977 to 1978
- While in the Soviet Army, Lukashenko was a deputy political officer of the 120th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which was based in Minsk
- In 1979, he joined the ranks of the CPSU
- After leaving the military, he became the deputy chairman of a collective farm in 1982
- In 1985, he was promoted to the post of director of the Gorodets state farm and construction materials plant in the Shklow district
- In 1987, he was appointed as the director of the Gorodets state farm in Shklow district
- In early 1988, was one of the first in Mogilev Region to introduce a leasing contract to a state farm
- In 1990, Lukashenko was elected Deputy to the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus. Having acquired a reputation as an eloquent opponent of corruption
- Lukashenko was elected in April 1993 to serve as the interim chairman of the anti-corruption committee of the Belarusian parliament
- In late 1993 he accused 70 senior government officials, including the Supreme Soviet chairman Stanislav Shushkevich and prime minister Vyacheslav Kebich, of corruption including stealing state funds for personal purposes
- While the charges ultimately proved to be without merit, Shushkevich resigned his chairmanship due to the embarrassment of this series of events and losing a vote of no-confidence
- He served in that position until July 1994
- Lukashenko has made several controversial statements during his presidency which have been regarded as anti-semitic, homophobic and misogynistic
- Lukashenko describes himself as an “Orthodox atheist”
- He has said that he believes that the president should be a conservative person and avoid using modern electronic technology such as an iPad or iPhone
- He used to play the bayan, a musical instrument similar to an accordion
- He has a pet dog, a spitz named Umka
- Lukashenko married Galina Zhelnerovich, his high school sweetheart, in 1975
- Later that year, his oldest son, Viktor, was born
- Their second son, Dmitry, was born in 1980
- Galina lives separately in a house in the village Shklow
- Though they are still legally married, Galina Lukashenko has been estranged from her husband since shortly after he became president
- In a 2014 interview, Lukashenko said that they had not lived together for 30 years and the only reason they had not divorced was that he did not want to traumatize his adult sons
- Lukashenko has been seen on public occasions with various women
- Lukashenko fathered a son, Nikolai, who was born in 2004
- Though never confirmed by the government, it is widely believed that the child’s mother is Irina Abelskaya
- The two had an extramarital affair when she was Lukashenko’s personal doctor
- There has never been any public statement about who Nikolai’s mother is; Nikolai was raised solely by his father
- It has been reported by Western observers and media that Nikolai, nicknamed “Kolya”, is being groomed as Lukashenko’s successor
- According to Belarusian state media, these speculations were dismissed by Lukashenko
- Who also denied that he would remain in office for a further thirty years, the time Nikolai will become eligible to stand for election and succeed him
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