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Ever since winning the presidential election in 1994, Aleksander Lukashenko has ruled the country with an iron fist, obsessed with staying in power (Photo: kremlin.ru)

Time to pay attention to Belarus

Belarusian president Aleksander Lukashenko last month opened the second European Games, four years after the inaugural session hosted by Azerbaijan.

Lukashenko likely thought hosting the games would be an opportunity to rally Belarusians around his leadership. Instead, his country is feeling increasingly anxious amid mounting tensions with Russia.

Russian president Vladimir Putin's attendance for the closing ceremony on June 30 didn't calm the situation.

Ever since winning...

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Ever since winning the presidential election in 1994, Aleksander Lukashenko has ruled the country with an iron fist, obsessed with staying in power (Photo: kremlin.ru)

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Author Bio

Vlad Kobets is executive director of the International Strategic Action Network for Security(ISANS). David J. Kramer is senior fellow in the Vaclav Havel Center for Human Rights and Diplomacy and director of European and Eurasian Studies at Florida International University's Green School of International & Public Affairs, and a former assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; he is author of Back to Containment: Dealing with Putin's Regime.

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