[Cronos]

The thing is that Belarus is a tricky case. Belarus is majority "Russian" speaking - but the majority feel Belarussian - or Białoruski to be precise. In the English language it seems that they are a dialect of the "Russians" but in reality the Białorusyny, the Ukrainians and the Moscowites are three "sister nations" formed from the ashes of the Kievan Rus federation, which was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century. Białorus came under the Lithuanians and then the Commonwealth. Under the Muscowites their culture and language was destroyed. But they still see themselves as friends of "Russians" but not quite "Russians". Lukashenko has played a delicate balancing act between east and west

[VanShuyten]

“ Lukashenko has played a delicate balancing act between east and west ”

That must be why he comes across as an unbalanced autocrat.