Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (30 August 1954-) was President of Belarus from 20 July 1994, succeeding Myechyslaw Hryb.
Biography[]
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko was born in the town of Kopys, Vitebsk Oblast, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union on 30 August 1954, the son of an unmarried milkmaid. He served in the Soviet Army during the 1970s and 1980s, and he joined the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1979. He also became a state farm director, and he was elected as a Deputy to the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus in 1990. In December 1991, he was the only deputy of the Belarusian parliament who voted against the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, and he became President of Belarus in 1994.
In 1995, Lukashenko dissolved the Supreme Soviet by decree, made the Russian language equal to Belarusian, continued the state ownership of key industries, retained much of the Soviet-era symbolism, and took on dictatorial powers; he maintained his rule through a combination of socialist and populist policies. He won re-election in 2001, 2006, 2010, and 2015, promoting himself as a "man of the people"; however, the elections were condemned as un-democratic. He also became the head of the Belaya Rus public association, which supported his authoritarian rule.