The Belarusian dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, spoke at a ceremony for military graduates and officers on July 6. He predictably mentioned the war in neighbouring Ukraine. “No one is going to send you into this slaughter,” he assured them, “we do not need war; it is tragic that it is going on in Ukraine.”
Yet, arguably, Lukashenko has in fact needed the war. After almost being toppled by mass street protests in August 2020 following a flagrantly rigged presidential election, it was Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year and a half later that finally helped him cow his domestic opponents. He claimed to offer stability where political unrest could turn Belarus into another Ukraine.
