Lukashenko Is Proud to be a Dictator
Sunday's election in Belarus proves what we already knew.
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Alexander Lukashenko doesn’t hide the fact that he has been the dictator of Belarus for the past three decades. Earlier this month, he declared, “A dictatorship like in Belarus is better than a democracy like in Ukraine.” Better for him, no doubt, but not for the vast majority of the 9.1 million people who live in Belarus.
To extend his dictatorial grip on power, Lukashenko claimed victory in his latest sham election on Sunday, despite the fact that he has imprisoned or forced into exile all serious opposition. As one exiled democratic opposition leader described it, it was the “reappointment of Lukashenko by Lukashenko himself.”
No respectable democracy should recognize Lukashenko as Belarus’ legitimate leader. They should treat Sunday’s charade as his latest effort to stay in power at any cost while acknowledging his complicity in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It was Lukashenko, after all, who in February 2022 allowed Vladimir Putin to use Belarusian territory from which to launch the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. A true, democratically elected leader of Belarus undoubtedly would never have allowed Putin to commit such war crimes from Belarusian territory. Moreover, because of his dependence on Putin to stay in power, Lukashenko has made Belarus’ military-industrial complex available to Russia’s war machine. Dozens of enterprises are involved—many of them established during the Soviet era.
After becoming president in 1994, Lukashenko built a track record of rigging and stealing elections in his country, enabling him to remain in power longer than any other figure on the European continent. (Putin came to power five years later.) His readiness to unleash brutal crackdowns against peaceful protestors, and the support of the Kremlin during difficult times, have solidified his grip on power.
Lukashenko’s outright theft of the August 2020 election—which the leader of the democratic forces, Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya, won by a huge margin in the estimation of objective domestic and international observers—was by far the worst instance of blatant fraud and authoritarian abuse by a man with a history of such crimes.
In the lead-up to the sham election on Sunday, Lukashenko eliminated any risk that a challenger like Tsikhanouskaya might beat him again. He cleared the electoral field of any serious opposition, revoked the registration of all opposition parties, shut down over 1,800 civil society organizations, and closed all independent media.
In response, Western nations should beef up their support for democrats in Belarus, most of whom are either in prison or have had to flee to neighboring states for exile. The international community should also press for the release of all political prisoners.
Tsikhanouskaya remains the leader of the democratic forces in Belarus. Her husband, the initial challenger to Lukashenko in 2020, was arrested before that election and remains in prison to this day. She then replaced her husband in opposing Lukashenko and was forced into exile in Lithuania, where she continues to lead the efforts against Lukashenko.
Last October, she united with other figures in the democratic movement to issue a statement on the upcoming “election.”
“In reality, this will be a sham election, as the people have been deprived of any alternative,” the statement declared. Lukashenko “is unlawfully holding onto power through repression against the Belarusian society, relying on support from the Kremlin.” The activists demanded “an end to all forms of repression, the release of all political prisoners,” and a truly free and fair election.
Over the years, Lukashenko has played Russia and the West off against each other. He has hinted that with a lifting of Western sanctions (imposed over the years for his theft of past elections and gross human rights abuses), he might be able to strong-arm Putin.
Lukashenko’s charm offensive won him visits by then-National Security Advisor John Bolton in August 2019 and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February 2020. A year after Bolton’s visit and a few months after Pompeo’s, Lukashenko engaged in his worst theft of an election since coming to power and the brutal use of force against peaceful protestors.
It’s time we learned: once a dictator, always a dictator.
Despite freeing several dozen political prisoners who never should have been detained in the first place, Lukashenko’s regime continues to hold more than 1200 in jail. Potential presidential candidates have been unlawfully imprisoned or forced into exile.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently claimed that Lukashenko apologized for allowing Russian missile strikes to occur from Belarusian territory. He “apologized and he said, ‘It was not me. Missiles were launched from my territory, and Putin was the one launching them,’” Zelensky said. “These are his words: ‘I have witnesses, and I apologize,’ he said.… ‘Volodymyr, this is not me. I’m not in charge,’ he told me.”
In fact, Lukashenko’s spokesperson declared several days later that he hadn’t apologized, claiming he had nothing for which to say sorry. This, despite the fact that Putin’s invasion plans might have been scuttled were it not for Lukashenko’s permission to launch part of the assault from Belarus. Clearly, excluding Belarusian production facilities from Russia’s war machine would help end the war.
Lukashenko may need to apologize to Donald Trump, however, after criticizing the American president’s inauguration speech. In a comment that surely won’t sit well with the new occupant of the Oval Office, Lukashenko said, “I was not thrilled with Joe Biden—the previous president. But when I looked at him, he somehow seemed more decent than Trump himself.”
On the same day that Lukashenko staged his fraudulent and illegitimate reelection, Belarusian democratic forces held a major event, the Free Belarusians Congress, in Warsaw. The theme of the gathering was “Belarusians Deserve Better.” Indeed they do—and the West should be unambiguous in saying so and in providing assistance to those on the side of freedom and democracy.
Vlad Kobets, a Belarusian activist, is Executive Director of iSANS (the International Strategic Action Network for Security).
David J. Kramer is Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute and a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
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He is a political relic and a dinosaur from the past