In August 2020 when hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in protest against a stolen election and police brutality, it seemed to many this was the end of Lukashenko’s 27-year long rule. But, as so often, Russia once again came to his rescue. Not only did the Kremlin give Lukashenko $1.5 billion to prop up the economy and strengthen the security apparatus, it even sent a pool of Russia Today journalists to Belarus when Lukashenka’s regime propagandists went on strike.
OP-ED
Tadeusz Giczan: Raising the price of Putin’s Belarus plaything
An activist, a member of the Belarusian diaspora in Ukraine, holds a placard depicting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a rally outside the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv on May 28, 2021, held to demand the cutting of trade and diplomatic links with Belarus and the imposition of sanctions on strongman Alexander Lukashenko.
