Russia Considers Life After Lukashenko in Belarus
- Belarus leader may not keep power, people close to Putin say
- Russia watches as Lukashenko’s 26-year rule is threatened
Opposition supporters protest in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 18.
Photographer: Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty Images
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While Russian President Vladimir Putin is publicly supporting his besieged ally Alexander Lukashenko after disputed elections, some around the Kremlin leader are starting to imagine life without Belarus’s longtime ruler.
Lukashenko may not be able to survive the backlash against him and Russia may gain more by reaching an understanding with the opposition than by intervening to prop up his regime and risk a social explosion in Belarus, according to two people with access to Putin’s inner circle, who asked not to be identified because the matter is sensitive.