Starting in August 2020, hundreds of thousands of heroes in Belarus began fighting back against oppression, corruption and a blatantly stolen election – where the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya won more votes but incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, who had been in office since 1994, refused to step down. 

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Tikhanovskaya announced her candidacy after her husband, Sergei, was arrested and thrown in jail after announcing his own. Directly after the election, several of her staff were effectively taken hostage, and she was forced to read an obviously coerced concession speech before leaving Belarus for neighboring Lithuania. Based on comments she has made since many people assume Lukashenko and his thugs threatened her children. < In March 2023, a Belarus court sentenced her to a 15-year jail sentence in absentia. >

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Saying that a woman could not possibly be president because “our Constitution is not for women” and calling peaceful protesters “rats,” “trash” and “bandits,” Lukashenko and his security forces (who are still called KGB) pulled out all the stops to end the 2020 protests – including shuttering the Internet; beating, imprisoning and even killing protestors; using flash grenades, water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets on the crowds; and getting people fired from their jobs and removed from universities. Outraged, factory workers and even people who work at state run institutions went on strike, and many in Belarus called for an even more comprehensive one.

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In typical authoritarian fashion, Lukashenko repeatedly raided the homes and offices of journalists and human rights activists, after already detaining hundreds of them. He also announced his intentions to change the country’s Constitution. In response, the European Union (EU) issued sanctions on several organizations, as well as Lukashenko and dozens of his officials. This included his son Viktor who was his “national security advisor.” Then, in May 2021 Lukashenko literally skyjacked an airborne plane, forcing it to land to arrest a Belarusian pro-democracy journalist named Roman Protasevich who had been living in exile in Lithuania.

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The following day, a video was released featuring Protasevich “admitting” to inciting disorder in Belarus. The video also clearly showed bruises and abrasions on the journalist’s face, which convinced almost everyone that Protasevich’s “confession” was coerced. Once again, the European Union issued sanctions and banned Belarus’s national airline, Belavia, from flying over EU territory. < In May 2023, Protasevich was sentenced to eight years in prison, but less than three weeks later was granted a presidential pardon after agreeing to cooperate with the justice system and support President Lukashenko in the official media. >

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Naturally, Vladimir Putin wormed his way into the crisis (Belarus is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast). Putin regards Belarus – as he does Ukraine – to be part of what he terms the “Russian world,” which, based on the war crimes Putin is perpetrating in Ukraine, is obviously extremely concerning. Not long before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin and Lukashenko announced joint military exercises, permanent joint training facilities, and a new Russian airbase in Belarus – all while a newly organized pro-Kremlin political party held its first meeting in Minsk. Then, in October 2022 – after a meeting with Putin, who Belarus is deeply dependent on for financial and security assistance – Lukashenko announced that large numbers of Russian forces would be returning to Belarus and that he was forming a “joint regional group of troops” to combat “possible aggression” against Belarus by NATO and Ukraine.

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Since that time, Lukashenko has provided Putin a major strategic advantage in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Belarus’s involvement in the war has drastically raised tensions with NATO allies, including Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.