&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Who is Alexander Lukashenko, the 'last and only dictator of Europe'?")
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that he would not seek another term. He also dismissed rumours that he will install his son as a successor. Alexander Lukashenko is a close ally of Vladimir Putin, Russia's President. He has been the president of the country since its inception. He is known for his authoritarianrule.
In January, Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected for his seventh consecutive five-year term.
Alexander Lukashenko is 70 years old. He said in a long interview with TIME magazine that he wasn't planning to seek re-election. He said his successor will not "break anything right away". He said his successor will keep developing the nation and avoid "revolutionary breakdown".
He said he isn't grooming his son, Nikolai, to replace him as his successor.
"No, he is not a successor. I knew you would ask that. No, no, no. Ask him yourself, he may be offended," he said.
In 2020, Lukashenko crushed huge street protests after his opposition accused him of stealing the election. His opponents were jailed or forced to leave the country. Hundreds of people were imprisoned. Many have been released. However, some are still behind bars.
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The Belarusian strongman, however, denies that there are any political prisoners in the country.
He further said that he was ready to step down in the previous election, but changed his mind because the public wanted him to contest.
In 2012, he called himself the last dictator in Europe. "I am the last and only dictator in Europe. Indeed, there are none anywhere else in the world," he told Reuters.
Lukashenko, born in 1954, is the first and only Belarusian president. He became the president of Belarus in 1994.
Before politics, he worked as the director of a state farm (sovkhoz). He also served in the Soviet Army. In 1990, he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, he became the head of the interim anti-corruption body. In 1994, he became the president.