English

Lukashenka denies that he grooms his son Kolya as his successor

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said in an interview recently given to The Independent and the BBC that he had never planned to groom his young son Kolya (Mikalay) to be his successor as president of Belarus, BelaPAN said.

“This is complete nonsense,” the Belarusian leader said. “To become president in our country, a person should be at least 35 years old. He is eight. So do you want to say that I’ll be president for 30 more years to pass this power to my kid?”

“God forbid I be president at such an age and, secondly, my kid become president in the future,” Mr. Lukashenka said. “I’m telling you this absolutely sincerely.”

“This speculation originates with our thugs – they can’t be called differently – who try to frighten people by saying [Lukashenka] will transmit this power by inheritance and so on,” he said. “I tell you again: My children are fed up with my presidency. If you knew how I work and what I got from this presidency, you would agree with me.”

Mr. Lukashenka referred to Kolya as his successor while meeting with Hugo Chavez in Caracas on June 26, 2012. "Some people have started to doubt if there are serious prospects for cooperation between Belarus and Venezuela, but here is my son Mikalay and this is evidence that we laid the foundations of cooperation seriously and for a long time, and there is someone to take up the baton in 20 or 25 years," he said.

The 58-year-old Lukashenka, who has been ruling Belarus since the summer of 1994, also has two adult sons, Viktar and Dzmitry, who were born in 1976 and 1979, respectively. Viktar is presidential aide in charge of national security and a member of the Security Council of Belarus. Dzmitry heads the Presidential Sports Club, a parastatal organization, and is a member of the National Olympic Committee.

Three years ago, Mr. Lukashenka told Lithuanian journalists that neither of his two adult sons would succeed him as president of Belarus. "I would never wish them to be president after me," he said. "What's more, they won't be president after me."

"They are fed up with their father's presidency," he explained. "That is why calm down and calm others down, especially in Lithuania. There will be no such inheritance or hereditary presidency in Belarus."

However, Mr. Lukashenka noted that Kolya might become president after he reached the age of 35. "If the people elect him, why not?" Mr. Lukashenka said. "Or can't he be president? We can't say this a priori. I'll say even more: even your son may be president if he happens to obtain our citizenship. Would you deny this? Any citizen no younger than 35 years old may run for President. That's all and you shouldn't see anything else behind this."

In 2007, Mr. Lukashenka said that he did not plan to designate his eldest son, Viktar, as his successor.

"Alyaksandr Lukashenka will be president of Belarus in the near visible future," he noted.
"Viktar is weaker today and will be weaker tomorrow than the incumbent president," he said. "Why should I mean the presidency for who is weaker? I’ll be grooming the smallest one to become my successor. Neither the first nor the second one will be president. Maybe the third one will be."

Since a person must be at least 35 years old to run for president under the constitution, analysts concluded that Mr. Lukashenka might have decided to rule until he was 80 years old.

In October 2011, Mr. Lukashenka told journalists that he was in good health and hoping to live into his 90s at the very least. "Don't worry, I feel alright, I plan to have a long life, especially considering that my little son is seven years old and I should put him on his feet," he said.