Unlike in Russia, where Vladimir Putin chooses between various factions, Aleksander Lukashenko’s highly personalized regime is the sole power center in Belarus. After winning the presidency in 1994, Lukashenka swiftly stalled privatization, preventing the emergence of alternative concentrations of economic power. A class of Belarusian oligarchs has developed under his patronage, but their wealth is dependent on access to state-owned resources. Lukashenka has also squeezed the legislature and the judiciary, establishing a sprawling “power vertical” (a term coined by the Russian leader Boris Yeltsin in 1993). He frequently reshuffles the chief organs of the state to prevent new power centers from forming.
OP-ED
Katia Glod: The first Belarusian circle
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko attends a ceremony unveiling the Soviet Soldier Memorial near Rzhev, Russia's Tver region, June 30, 2020.
