Word: lukashenko
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...Still, despite the Belorusians' surprising resolve and the predictable Western denunciations of the election as "invalid" and "illegitimate," Lukashenko won't let go of his grip on power easily - or quietly. Leading opposition candidate Milinkevich confirmed to the visiting diplomats at the square that "a big grab" had indeed occurred, with more than 100 key opposition leaders, activists and staffers detained. "The Opposition has been beheaded," Milinkevich said. For his part, Lukashenko announced that "the revolution that was so much talked about failed," and dismissed any talk of economic sanctions as empty threats that would be too costly for European...
...downtown Oktyabrskaya Square on Monday night looked the next bright morning like merry little stalls offering hot tea and cakes to those enjoying the square's small outdoor skating rink. But the tents were covered with the national white and red colors of Belarus, frowned upon since President Alexander Lukashenko officially reintroduced the Soviet-era symbols back in 1995, and the 1000 or so people standing vigil around the tents didn't look like they were enjoying a day out with the family. Having spent a freezing night in the square, exhausted by sporadic scuffles with the police, or fighting...
...Before the now much-disputed election that brought these hardy souls to stand vigil, people in Minsk were making bets on how resounding a victory Europe's "last dictator," as Lukashenko is widely known, would claim in his third presidential race. Pessimists expected him to win hands down with some 78%, while realists expected Russian President Vladimir Putin to instruct his vassal to restrain his usual bad manners and go with a more reasonable...
...Both schools, however, agreed that Lukashenko was growing more tense and unsure of himself than ever - and, as a result, was even more unpredictable and dangerous than ever. And both camps, as it turned out, proved wrong on the returns: in the end, Lukashenko claimed almost 83%. "This is not an election," quipped Vladimir Ryzhkov, an Independent Liberal deputy in the Russian Duma, who came to Minsk as a journalist, because the Belorusian authorities would not accredit him as an observer. "This is some other phenomenon...
...maintain that supremacy, Lukashenko relies on raw force and on keeping Belarusians dependent on the state. No less than 80% of the population live on federal salaries, pensions, stipends and subsidies. This repressive climate has fueled rumors about the fate of those who oppose the regime. When, in 1999, Gennady Karpenko, a former member of parliament then challenging the President, died of an apparent brain hemorrhage, people were swift to suggest he had been murdered. Three more prominent opposition activists have since disappeared. And in 2000, when a Russian TV cameraman was kidnapped and murdered, some alleged he had been...