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When Alexander Lukashenko met Vladimir Putin last week in the Russian resort of Sochi, the body language spoke volumes. Photos of Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, leaning towards a sullen-looking Putin went viral. Lukashenko left the meeting with the promise of US$1.5 billion in loans to help prop up the faltering Belarusian economy – but it’s unclear what he had to promise in return.
Thousands of protesters are still turning out at mass rallies in Minsk, six weeks after Lukashenko reportedly won 80% of the vote in a disputed August election. Thousands have been subject to violent arrests and tortured by the authorities, according to human rights observers. Prominent opposition leaders, many of them women, have been arrested or forced to flee the country.
To help you understand why thousands of Belarusians have turned against the man known as “Europe’s last dictator”, here is a round-up of some of the stories The Conversation has published in recent weeks on the situation in the country. They include a survey on young Belarusians’ views of Europe and Russia, and an explainer on the fragility of the country’s economy.
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Watch the body language: Alexander Lukashenko meets Vladimir Putin in Sochi on September 14.
Kremlin Handout/EPA
Christopher Hartwell, Bournemouth University
Belarus's economy is closely linked to Russia. Could Putin's support for Lukashenko during ongoing protests be in turn for more integration.
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Student protesters detained in Minsk.
EPA
Félix Krawatzek, University of Oxford
A new survey conducted just before the disputed election, shows how the views of young Belarusians are changing.
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Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA-EFE
Yerzhan Tokbolat, Queen's University Belfast
People have lost all faith in Lukashenko to fix the country's economy.
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Deploying riot police to suppress peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators in Belarus turned more people against the country’s autocratic leader.
AP Photo/Sergei Grits, File
Tatsiana Kulakevich, University of South Florida
Pres. Lukashenka of Belarus has stayed in power for 26 years by being a master tactician. But he has seriously mishandled opposition protests, says a Belarus-born scholar of Eastern European politics.
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Saltanat Janenova, University of Birmingham
Opposition candidates have been arrested amid mass protests and a worsening coronavirus pandemic ahead of the August 9 election.
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Jennifer Mathers, Aberystwyth University
Russia's reaction to previous unrest in its neighbours provides clues on how Vladimir Putin may respond to protests in Belarus.
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Balki Begumhan Bayhan, Coventry University
State controlled exit poll gives authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko 80% of the vote.
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University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Essex
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Lecture Theatre 1, Richmond Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3DE, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Portsmouth
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Blavatnik School of Government, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX2 6GG, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland — University of Oxford
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