The axis of autocrats in Eastern Europe continues to solidify as Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka bends over backwards to please his patrons and masters in the Kremlin.
In the wake of last month’s summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Lukashenka has made two announcements that effectively indicate he is prepared to recognize Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea as well as the de facto sovereignty of the Kremlin-controlled “separatist republics” in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Lukashenka told reporters on June 1 that Belarusian national airline Belavia would begin flying to Crimea, which observers interpreted as the first step toward formally recognizing Russia’s annexation of the peninsula.
In televised remarks on the same day, Lukashenka also said he would allow investigators from the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine to interrogate dissident journalist Raman Pratasevich, who was effectively kidnapped after Belarus forced a Ryanair flight en route from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk on May 23. Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine have accused Pratasevich of fighting with the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian National Guard unit with far-right links.