Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko ( Alyaksandr in the Belarusian variant Ryhorawitsch Lukashenka, born August 30, 1954 in Kopys, Byelorussian SSR) is since 1994 the president of Belarus. He has long been seen as the last dictator of a European country.
Life
He even put his birthday on August 31 to celebrate the same day as his youngest son Nikolai (* 2004) can, but was actually born already on 30 August 1954. Lukashenko studied agronomy at the Agricultural Academy in Horki and History at the College of Education in Mogilev. From 1975 to 1977 he worked as an instructor at the border troops of the USSR in Brest. From 1980 to 1982, Lukashenko political deputy was in a tank company of the Soviet Army. He then became secretary of the CPSU and the director of a state farm. He supported the 1991 coup in Moscow in August against Mikhail Gorbachev.
Lukashenko 's claim to have voted as the only deputy of the Belarusian Soviet (Parliament) against the detachment of the country by the Soviet Union. In 1994 he was elected after one of the OSCE and the United States as questionable classified, marked by allegations of corruption campaign against the former head of state, the President of Parliament Stanislav Schuschkewitsch the first president of the country. He immediately confronted the politically and economically to the west orienting press and denounced repeated the financial transfers of political organizations - including the German Friedrich -Ebert -Stiftung - to friendly organizations and media in Belarus on.
Conversely accuse him this and the OSCE human rights violations and the action against unwelcome media. His critics call him since the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević as "Europe's last dictator." This expression Lukashenko considered as stupidity. He stressed that Belarus and he did not have the resources, so he can be dictator. His supporters give him credit, however, he had the country spared the worst symptoms of post-Soviet capitalism in transition. He describes himself as a student of the Russian politician Yevgeny Primakov.
Reputation in Russia
Alexander Lukashenko is so popular among Russian nationalists that Dmitry Rogozin would appoint him one of the presidential candidates in the Russian elections in 2008, for which, however, a Russian citizenship would be required, which he has not. From this initiative, the movement "Lukashenko 2008" was born. In general, the image of Lukashenka in Russia, however bad, which is not least due to the increasingly negative coverage in the Russian media.
In the second year of his presidency, a referendum was held in which the majority of the Belarusian population voted for the Russian language as the second official language.
Policy as president
As one of the first actions after his election as national symbols were introduced, which clearly reminiscent of the Soviet era. Lukashenko turned off by the West, halted the privatization and sought ever since a new edition of the Soviet Union, including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. To this end, he signed with Boris Yeltsin in the second half of the 1990s, various, previously mostly inconsequential remaining union contracts such as those for the Russian - Belarusian Union. Only the defense and temporarily the Customs Union have been implemented.
With inauguration of Vladimir Putin initially cooled the climate towards Russia so that Lukashenko 's increasingly isolated his country and to the East. He could be confirmed in a questionable vote as president, although his first term of office had expired in 2001. In addition to the external contact with Russia Lukashenko 's relations with North Korea, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Iran, Cuba, China, Sudan and Venezuela (until 2003 also to Iraq and Libya to 2011 ) priority.
Between the years 1999 and 2000 disappeared five Lukashenko opposition politicians set and press representatives, namely, Victor Gonchar, Dmitri Sawadski, jury Sacharanka, Tamara Winnikowa and Anatoly Krasovsky. The murder of journalist Weranika Tscharkassawa is accused of.
In 2002, the youth organization Belarusian Republican Junge Union was founded, which is faithful to Lukashenko and is the successor of the Komsomol.
In the economic Lukashenko pursued a course without the work carried out in other Eastern European countries reforms ( among other things he introduced a statutory minimum one ). After the 1990s, a revival began with annual growth rates of seven to eight percent. About eighty percent of the gross national product was generated in 2005 by state-owned enterprises.
In October 2004, a constitutional amendment was approved in a referendum called by Western observers as " undemocratic", the Lukashenko from 2006 allowed a third term. Political opponents were sentenced to prison for insulting the president. Financial and political support given the opposition mainly from Germany, Poland, the EU ( the EU and its Member States represented independent positions ) and the USA.
In the autumn of 2005, Russia and Belarus took again efforts to integrate some ex - Soviet republics and constitutional acts. In addition to the already existing inter-parliamentary Assembly and a committee of government representatives a low cross-national budget was agreed. A customs agreement, according to which Russian officials are allowed to control at the Belarusian- Polish border, is in force.
A referendum on common Constitution Act was made by the Russian State Secretary Pavel Borodin for 2006 views. Even President Lukashenko expressed confidence, although Fundamentals is still open (competences of supranational Union Council, extent of "equality" as different -sized states, etc.). The plan of Vladimir Putin to take Belarus as a province in Russia, Lukashenko in 2002 had declined. This had led to violent dissonances that are supposedly now settled. But there are still frictions, as recent developments in terms of a common currency show. You should enter into force on 1 January 2006, but could not agree on is printed in what country the ruble.
Before the presidential election on 19 March 2006 Lukashenko intensified its crackdown on critics. Belarusian and Russian politicians and intellectuals have repeated the financial support market economy -oriented politician criticized by European organizations. Lukashenko won the election with 83.0 percent of the vote and took his third term. Supposedly its result had far higher up, he had it but in his own words down beautiful, because the result would " not think " about 90 percent.
19 December 2010 again found presidential elections in Belarus. On 20 December 2010 it was confirmed that President Alexander Lukashenko for a fourth term by a large margin ( 79.7 %) was chosen before the opposition again. According to the opposition, western and OSCE observers was manipulated in this election again.
Especially in the middle layer of the current, releasing on government intervention in the economy government policy is popular.
As a result of human rights violations and dissonance in terms of market opening of the country, the EU imposed a travel ban on the Belarusian government in 1997. On 10 April 2006, the ban was extended to a total of 31 people in the Belarusian leadership. Further measures against persons, such as the seizure of foreign assets, the EU explicitly reserved the right. Much, however, indicates that such measures ineffective and purely symbolic in nature.
On 18 May 2006 the European Union to freeze the accounts of President Lukashenko and 35 other government officials decided. On 19 June 2006 the United States tightened its sanctions against the government and were allegedly supported on American banks at home and foreign assets of the President and nine other members of his government freeze. Lukashenko himself admitted in an interview with the Berliner Morgenpost on, " nothing stolen [ and ] no accounts in foreign banks " to have.
In November 2007, the party White Rus was founded in Belarus. You should as a mass party support the policies of Lukashenko and offer him if necessary, the ability to mobilize mass demonstrations in his support, modeled on the Russian President's party, United Russia.
2012 cooled the relations with the EU significantly. The European Union withdrew all their ambassadors from Belarus and increased sanctions. Then pulled the Belarusian ambassador from Belgium and Poland. Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said publicly Lukashenko was the " last dictator in Europe ". Then Lukashenko responded with a personal attack on Westerwelle: "Better a dictator than gay ".
Also criticized Lukashenko wasteful policy. While the country was supposed to be in a miserable economic situation, he bought at government expense a jet for about 124-160 million dollars.
Because many Belarusians work for low wages in Russia, Lukashenko in 2012 passed a law which forbids the citizens to abandon their profession and to go abroad.