Putin’s Term Limit Stirs Fears of a Takeover in Belarus

Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko Photographer: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images President Vladimir Putin may look beyond Russia for a mechanism to keep power after his current term ends. That’s making Moscow’s closest ally nervous amid spiraling tensions over Kremlin threats to slash economic subsidies.After years of spending billions of dollars to support Belarus’s state-dominated economy, Russia is intensifying pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko to demonstrate his loyalty by accepting deeper integration in return for continued aid. That’s fueling fears in Belarus that Russia’s turning the screw as a prelude to possible absorption of its former Soviet satellite.Those concerns may not be unfounded, according to th... Читать на udf.by