KIEV, Ukarine — On the surface, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko have every reason to be bosom buddies. Both are strongmen of the Russian-speaking world, their states linked in a federal union. They have no qualms about jailing or “disappearing†their opponents, muzzling the media or talking tough to the West. Soviet revanchists at heart, both lament the demise of the powerful Soviet Union and yearn for empire. Lukashenko, in fact, was the only Belarusian deputy to vote against the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
They’re also both bachelors who like to be seen in the …read more
Source: POLITICO – Europe Edition
