Alyaksandr Lukashenka has ruled Belarus for 26 years. How did this little known figure rise to the highest office in the newly independent post-Soviet space? What were his motivations for power and how did he stop the nascent national movements that were trying to create a new Belarus strongly tied to the historical idea of the country? This episode is the first of two-parts dedicated to looking at Lukashenka, the man, his history and his growing authoritarian tendencies.

Hosted by: Adam Reichardt

Guest Speaker: Andrew Wilson, professor of Ukrainian Studies at University College London and senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Background readings:

Andrew Wilson, Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship, Yale University Press, 2011 (updated edition available 2021).

Andrei Kazakevich, “Uncertainty and risk in Lukashenka’s time”, New Eastern Europe 6/2019. https://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/11/13/uncertainty-and-risk-in-lukashenkas-times/

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This podcast is financed by Solidarity Fund PL within the framework of the Polish development cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and the grant titled: “In Solidarity with Belarus”. The podcast expresses exclusively the views of the speakers and cannot be identified with the official stance of the Solidarity Fund PL nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.