Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko(Belarusian: Алякса́ндр Рыго́равіч Лукашэ́нка,[1] Russian: Алекса́ндр Григо́рьевич Лукаше́нко;[2] born 30 August 1954) is the President of Belarus, in office since 20 July 1994.[3] Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko worked as director of a state-owned agricultural farm and spent time with the Soviet Border Troops and the Soviet Army. When he first entered politics, he was seen as a champion against corruption and was the only deputy to vote against the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union.
Lukashenko opposed Western-backed "shock therapy" during the post-Soviet transition. He has retained Soviet-era policies, such as continued state ownership of key industries, despite objections from Western governments. Observers also contend that Lukashenko presides over a regime steeped in Soviet nostalgia.[4] Belarus has been labeled "Europe's last dictatorship" by some Western journalists,[5][6] on account of Lukashenko's self-described authoritarian style of government.[7][8][9] Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials are also the subject ofsanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States for alleged human rights violations off and on since 2006.[10][11]
Early life and career (1954–94)[edit]
Lukashenko was born on 30 August 1954,[12][13] in the settlement of Kopys in the Vitebsk voblast of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. His grandfather, Trokhym Lukashenko, had been born in the Sumy Oblast of Ukraine near Shostka (today village of Sobycheve).[14] Lukashenko grew up without a father in his childhood, leading him to be taunted by his schoolmates for having an unmarried mother.[15]
Lukashenko graduated from the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute (now Mogilev State A. Kuleshov University) in 1975 and the Belarusian Agricultural Academy in 1985. He served in the Border Guard (frontier troops) from 1975 to 1977 and in the Soviet Army from 1980 to 1982. In addition, he led an All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) chapter in Mogilev from 1977 to 1978. While in the Soviet Army, Lukashenko was an officer of the 120th Guards Motor Rifle Division, which was based in Minsk.[16] After leaving the military, he became the deputy chairman of a collective farm in 1982 and in 1985. He was promoted to the post of director of the Gorodets state farm and construction materials plant in the Shklov district.[17]
In 1990, Lukashenko was elected as a Deputy in the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus. He was the only deputy of the Belarusian parliament who voted against ratification of the December 1991 agreement that dissolved the Soviet Union and set up theCommonwealth of Independent States in its place.[18] Having acquired a reputation as an eloquent opponent of corruption, Lukashenko was elected in 1993 to serve as the chairman of the anti-corruption committee of the Belarusian parliament.[18] In late 1993 he accused 70 senior government officials, including the Supreme Soviet chairman Stanislav Shushkevich and prime minister Vyacheslav Kebich, of corruption including stealing state funds for personal purposes. While the charges were never fully proven against him, Shushkevich resigned his chairmanship due to the embarrassment of the series of events and losing a vote of no-confidence.[19][20]
A new Belarusian constitution enacted in early 1994 paved the way for the first democraticpresidential election on 23 June and 10 July. Six candidates stood in the first round, including Lukashenko, who campaigned as an independent on a populist platform of "defeat the mafia against the Conspiracy of New World Order and Zionism".[21]Shushkevich and Kebich also ran, with the latter regarded as the clear favorite.[22]Lukashenko won 45.1% of the vote while Kebich received 17.4%, Zyanon Paznyakreceived 12.9% and Shushkevich, along with two other candidates, received less than 10% of votes.[22] Lukashenko won the second round of the election on 10 July with 80.1% of the vote.[22][23] Shortly after his election, he addressed the State Duma of the Russian Federation in Moscow proposing a new Union of Slavic states, which would culminate in the creation of the Union State in 1999.[24]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lukashenko
