# Alexander Lukashenko **Alexander Lukashenko** (born 1954) has ruled Belarus since 1994, longer than any other leader in Europe, and is often called "Europe's last dictator." He is [[Vladimir Putin]]'s closest client: Belarus served as a launch pad for Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and hosts Russian nuclear weapons. Since 2025 he has also become a counterpart in one of the Trump administration's most transactional deals, trading political prisoners for sanctions relief. ## Path to power A former Soviet collective-farm director, Lukashenko entered the Belarusian parliament in 1990. He has long claimed to have been the only deputy to vote against ratifying the 1991 agreement that dissolved the Soviet Union, though Stanislau Shushkevich, who chaired the parliament at the time, said the records show Lukashenko did not vote. He built his name as an anti-corruption campaigner. In July 1994 he won Belarus's first presidential election, the last one international observers regarded as free. Referendums in 1996 and 2004 concentrated power in his office and removed term limits. ## Rule by repression | Year | Event | |---|---| | Aug 2020 | Claims about 80% in a presidential election widely seen as stolen from Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya; the largest protests in Belarusian history follow, met with mass arrests and torture; Tsikhanouskaya goes into exile | | May 2021 | A Ryanair flight is forced to land in Minsk so the regime can arrest the dissident journalist Roman Protasevich | | Feb 2022 | Belarusian territory used as a staging ground for Russia's invasion of Ukraine (see [[Russo-Ukrainian War]]) | | Jun 2023 | Brokers the deal that ends Prigozhin's mutiny ([[Wagner Group Mutiny]]); Wagner fighters briefly relocate to Belarus. Russia deploys tactical nuclear weapons there the same year | | Jan 2025 | Claims a seventh term with about 87% | His regime is also tied to influence operations against NATO neighbors; see [[Ghostwriter (Influence Operation)]]. ## Prisoners for sanctions Trump's special envoys, first Keith Kellogg and then John Coale, opened a channel that the European Union refused: | Date | Release | What the U.S. gave | |---|---|---| | Jun 2025 | Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the opposition leader's husband, and others, during Kellogg's visit | Direct high-level contact | | Sep 2025 | 52 prisoners | Sanctions lifted on the state airline Belavia | | Dec 2025 | 123, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski, Maria Kalesnikava and Viktar Babaryka | Eased potash sanctions | | Mar 19, 2026 | 250, the largest single release | Two state banks, the Finance Ministry and the main potash producers removed from sanctions | Tsikhanouskaya called the March release "a moment of great relief and hope" while warning that "many people are still behind bars." The human-rights group Viasna counted more than 1,100 political prisoners just before it. Critics note that the deals return hostages the regime took, and that Lukashenko can always arrest more; supporters answer that no other approach has freed anyone. ## See Also - [[Belarus]] · [[Vladimir Putin]] · [[Post-Soviet States]] · [[Dictators in World History Hub]] - [[Wagner Group Mutiny]] · [[Yevgeny Prigozhin]] · [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] · [[Lithuania]]