The Dawn of Belarusian Independence and the Usurpation of Power by Aleksandr Lukashenko regime

Despite the geographical and cultural proximity, the contemporary history of Belarus is poorly represented in Ukrainian historiography. The study of the socio-political processes that took place in the Republic of Belarus after it became an independent country is necessary to understand the reasons for the failure of its nationally oriented course in 1991–1994, the Lukashenko regime’s coming to power and its subsequent transformation into a state unfriendly to Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic bloc. After gaining independence during the «parade of sovereignties» in 1988–1991, Belarus began to experience the processes of national revival of the Belarusian language and culture and democratisation of social and political life, initiated by the national conservatives from the Belarusian Populat Front (BPF), but already in the fourth year of independence, the above-mentioned processes were curtailed and the Republic of Belarus, headed by the permanent president Alexander Lukashenko, became known as «Europe’s last dictatorship». Nevertheless, mass opposition protests have been taking place almost throughout the entire period since 1994, from the so-called Minsk Spring to the large-scale protests of 2020. The article generally chronicles the anti-authoritarian resistance of civil society in Belarus in the 1990s, examining the formation and activities of Zianon Pazniak’s Belarusian People’s Front party, the confrontation between different branches of power against the backdrop of Alexander Lukashenka’s first victory in the presidential election and his subsequent usurpation of power, human rights violations, fraud during the presidential election, regime repression of the opposition and its activities. A special focus on the Belarusian Popular Front is due to the importance of this party as the most significant opposition force during the period of independent Belarus’ existence.