For more than two decades, Alexander Lukashenko has been at the head of the Belarusian state. Not everyone likes the style of his rule. Some call Alexander Grigoryevich the last European dictator, alluding to his methods of leading the country, far from what is commonly called democracy in the West. And yet Lukashenko can boast of excellent political longevity.
From the biography of Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko
The future president of Belarus was born on August 30, 1954 in the village of Kopys (Vitebsk region, Belarusian SSR). Mom brought up Sasha, who worked as a milkmaid at a local farm. Little is known about Father Lukashenko. By profession, he was a forester.
Alexander’s childhood passed on the Dneprovsky collective farm. Here he went to the most ordinary rural school. After graduation, Lukashenko entered the history department of the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute. In 1975, a young historian was sent for distribution to Shklov. Here he served as secretary of the Komsomol committee in secondary school No. 1. A few months later, Alexander was drafted into the army. For two years, Lukashenko served in the border troops.
The army service has ended. Alexander continues to pursue a career along the Komsomol line, holding the post of secretary of the Komsomol committee in the city of Mogilev. In 1979, Lukashenko joined the ranks of the CPSU. In 1980, he again went to serve in the army, this time as a political commander of a tank company.
After his second army term, Lukashenko worked as deputy chairman of the Udarnik collective farm, after which he was deputy director of the building materials factory in Shklov.
In 1985, Alexander Grigoryevich graduated from the Agricultural Academy in the economic field. He laid the foundation of his future political career as head of the Gorodets state farm. Here he was the first in perestroika to begin to practice rental contracts. The loss-making state farm quickly became an advanced enterprise. Even then, Lukashenko proved that he can manage people and enterprises.
Career in politics
Production successes allowed Lukashenko to enter big politics. A successful manager was invited to Moscow, after which he became a deputy of his republic. After the collapse of the USSR, the young politician made a dizzying career, rapidly soaring to the top of power.
Lukashenko quickly gained fame as a fighter against corruption and public defender. This allowed Alexander Grigorievich to enlist the support of voters. Having become a presidential candidate in Belarus, Lukashenko focused on the program to save the economy, which was in a deep hole. He loudly promised the people that he would destroy the mafia, reduce inflation, save the country's population from poverty. In the 1994 elections, Lukashenko won 80% of the vote, after which he became the first president of the Republic of Belarus.
Western political circles have repeatedly criticized Lukashenko’s activities and methods of his leadership in the country. In the West, they continue to believe that not one of the elections that Alexander Grigoryevich won in was in line with international standards and democratic norms.
As president, Lukashenko carried out many important reforms, which the people perceived ambiguously. The President of Belarus has repeatedly tried to build ties with neighboring Russia so that this does not infringe on the interests of his people. However, official relations between the neighboring powers are still far from ideal. The reason for this, in particular, is different approaches to the economy.
In 2015, Lukashenko won a landslide victory for the fifth time in the presidential election. Its goal is to make Belarus one of the leaders in terms of basic economic indicators. The president focuses on domestic engineering and agriculture.
