{"id":11567,"date":"2023-05-14T22:57:30","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T19:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/rumors-surrounding-lukasenkas-health-reminiscent-of-brezhnev-era\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"rumors-surrounding-lukasenkas-health-reminiscent-of-brezhnev-era","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11567\/","title":{"rendered":"Rumors surrounding \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s health reminiscent of Brezhnev era"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Victory Day celebrations in Moscow were attended by the leaders of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, including Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka of Belarus who looked seriously ill.\n<\/p>\n<h2>\nPutin invited guests to Moscow parade <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Not a single foreign leader attended the Victory Day events in Moscow last year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t This year, Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned his CIS counterparts and persuaded them to come as he sought to bounce back after a series of diplomatic setbacks in the UN and other international organizations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t It is a mystery what arguments (sticks or carrots) Putin used to make the leaders of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan come to Moscow for the Victory Day show.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t They perfectly realized that their Moscow visit would be perceived as support for Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine. They understood that the Victory Day show would be used to justify Russia\u2019s aggression. Taking part in the parade were Russian units that had been involved in Ukraine battles. Putin in his speech glorified the \u201cheroes\u201d of war that has been going on longer than a year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The leaders\u2019 presence at the May 9 celebrations in Moscow was a diplomatic victory for the Kremlin.\n<\/p>\n<h2>\n\u0141uka\u0161enka not feeling well <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The Belarusian ruler was not feeling well, but he went to Moscow anyway. Probably, he had no choice because his absence would have given even more food for speculations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Footage circulated by the Russian media shows that his arm was bandaged. It was difficult for him to move around. He was driven to a wreath laying site, whereas the other Eurasian leaders arrived on foot, and skipped the \u201cinformal breakfast\u201d hosted by Putin.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In the evening, \u0141uka\u0161enka participated in a wreath laying ceremony at Victory Square in Minsk but stopped short of making a speech, which was unusual and occurred for the first time during his rule. Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin was the primary speaker. The ceremony, broadcast by state television, lasted just 20 minutes.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka has not appeared in public since&nbsp;May 9.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t One can assume that he had health issues before, but was able to keep his condition hidden from the public.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t His miserable and sick look fueled rumors that always exaggerate the severity of his disease.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s health is the most trending topic in Belarus being discussed by officials, politicians and ordinary people. Older people may draw parallels with rumors about Leonid Brezhnev\u2019s health that dominated informal political conversations in the Soviet Union.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka looked quite fit for many years with state television channels broadcasting footage of him playing ice hockey, winning ski competitions, chopping wood and mowing grass with a scythe. It is difficult to reconcile his miserable condition with his sporty image.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In personalist regimes, the ruler\u2019s health issues will always be perceived as a weakness. Belarus is not an exception in that regard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Victory Day celebrations in Moscow were attended by the leaders of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, including Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka of Belarus who looked seriously ill. Putin invited guests to Moscow parade Not a single foreign leader attended the Victory Day events in Moscow last year. This year, Russian President Vladimir Putin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11567","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rumors surrounding \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s health reminiscent of Brezhnev era | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d Victory Day celebrations in Moscow were attended by the leaders of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, including\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11567\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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