Lukashenko Succession - Viktar vs Kolya/Nikola
One factor that boded ill for Lukashenka's future is his isolation from the ruling class in Belarus. In January 2007, at the height of his energy-pricing dispute with Russia, Lukashenka appointed his 31-year-old son, Viktar, to the Security Council, granting the politically inexperienced young man a status equal to that of the KGB chief or the interior minister. Some analysts have speculated that Lukashenka may be priming his son to serve as his successor. But the reason for the appointment actually seems to be much simpler -- the solitary president lacks qualified and trustworthy candidates to fill senior state positions and replace the battered and exhausted political veterans who have managed to remain in government.
Belarus has no tradition of inherited succession, and Lukashenka has not cultivated the kind of North Korean cult of personality that would facilitate the transfer of power to one of his three sons. His eldest son, Viktar, is a presidential security adviser, but like all Belarusian officials, he keeps a low profile. His middle son, Dzmitry, has no position or public role. Lukashenka has occasionally taken his youngest son, Kolya, now 14, on official trips, but such appearances have not gone over well with Belarusians generally. In recent years, Kolya has been much less visible.
On 12 April 2007, Lukashenko stated that he planned to remain president for the foreseeable future. He denied categorically any plan to designate his eldest son Viktor, currently on the State Security Council, as his successor. He labeled his eldest son as too weak to take over his father's position. Lukashenko also denied that he was preparing his second son, Dmitry, to become president.
He did say that he might prepare a "third son" for the presidency. Lukashenko was referring to the young son he had with a mistress. Kolya, short for Nikolai, is the youngest of the president's three sons. It has been widely reported in Western media that he was born in 2004 as a result of an extra-marital affair between the president and his personal doctor.
The grooming of “Kolya,” as he is popularly known, began in 2008, when the four-year old child appeared alongside his father in military uniform to review an annual Independence Day parade in Minsk. Since then he emerged as Belarus’ president-in-waiting, accompanying his father on high-level diplomatic missions where foreign leaders treat the young boy as an official guest. “Dynastic succession is a long-term possibility. But Kolya is also very young, and that is very deliberate: it sends the message; ‘I may be grooming my son for power, but you won’t be rid of me anytime soon,” said Andrew Wilson, a senior policy fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations.
Largely kept out of the public spotlight, Lukashenko's separated wife, Galina, did not marry in a church because, according to Galina, that was a time when a church wedding was not allowed or accepted. It was her decision to stay in the rural village of Rizhkovichi when her husband became President. Galina's sons Viktor and Dima now live in Drozhdi, the same residential neighborhood as their father. The Drozhdi neighborhood is a complex of million-dollar homes where the president and his cronies all live. It was also the residential neighbor where foreign ambassadors lived until Lukashenko evicted them in 1997. Dima is a lawyer by trade and is now the chair of the Presidential Sport Club. Galina had three granddaughters, Viktoria, Anastasia and Daria, and one grandson, Aleksandr.
Allegedly, for a time the woman in Lukashenko's life was the daughter of the Minister of Health, who worked as Lukashenko's "personal nurse," handling his medications.
Miss Belarus 2018, Maria Vasilevich, elected deputy of Parliament, was involved in a media scandal after the British newspaper The Times pointed to a possible romantic bond with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The young woman accused the British media of having published false data. The reason why The Times and other media speculate about the romantic relationship between Vasilevich and Lukashenko is because the young woman has accompanied the Belarusian president to different events since she won the crown of the prestigious beauty pageant. She accompanied the Belarusian president to a hockey game, the international arts festival Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, and even danced the waltz with Lukashenko during the celebration of the New Year in Minsk.
Lukashenko brushed off the dangers of the coronavirus as a hoax and refused to introduce a lockdown or postpone the election. Lukashenko's health tips for the virus included drinking vodka and taking steam baths.
The Belarusian president has a severe knee disorder. “He needs urgent knee surgery" Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushko stated to NV Radio. Sources in the president’s medical clinic say Lukasenko also has a problem with his gut vertebral column which would force him to live on painkillers.
A number of Telegram channels reported in July 2020 that the Belarusian president had been taken to hospital with a high blood pressure bout. Belarusian president’s press secretary Natalia Eismont refuted medial allegations that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has health problems. There have been similar health-related rumors regarding Lukashenko numerous times over the years—some including that he was "near his death bed" and it never materialized.
Lukashenko struggled to disembark his private jumbo jet after landing in Yerevan 25 November 2022 for a meeting with Vladimir Putin. The 68-year-old made heavy weather of descending the stairs on arrival with his appearance sparking speculation over his health. Lukashenko made slow progress down the aircraft steps, appearing unsteady as he gripped the handrail for support.
By May 2023 rumor had it that the doctors came with the leader to Russia for the 2023 Victory Day parade. For a few days, rumors had been circulating on the Web that the state of health of Alexander Lukashenko was at issue. Speculation was provoked 2023 by a video in which the President of Belarus hardly delivered a solemn speech, and now new photos of the leader from Moscow during the celebration of Victory Day.
The 68 years old Belarusian president arrived at the festivities in an electric vehicle. Lukashenko gave the impression that he was walking awkwardly in the Alexander Garden, with the Russian head of state, and was not able to bow naturally with the other leaders to lay flowers at the monument.
Lukashenko was never able to walk less than a quarter of a mile shoulder to shoulder with the Kremlin chief in the Red Square event. During the event, Lukashenka approached Putin and said something to him. Judging by the gestures and facial expressions, it was some kind of request. Putin then signaled to his guards. After that, Lukashenka disappears from the frame, and then in the background it was visible how he got into the electric security service car and indicated the direction to the driver.
Users drew attention to the fact that the head appeared in public with an elastic bandage on his arm. First, a freeze frame from the broadcast of the Parade was published, in which the president's medical accessory was visible. Also, the bandage could be seen on Lukashenka's hand in official photos from the event, where he appeared surrounded by the leaders of the CIS countries.
Opposition Belarusian journalists claim that allegedly before the trip to Moscow, the president had to lie on a drip for several days, because his health leaves much to be desired. They also claim that together with Lukashenka, a medical team arrived in the Russian capital. There was no official confirmation of the information. Later, Lukashenka, allegedly for health reasons, could not attend the meal and left Moscow. He was escorted to the airport by an ambulance.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of the Republic of Belarus, did not take part in the breakfast for the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States at the Kremlin following the Victory Day parade on 9 May because he had events to attend in Minsk.
According to the "Belarusian" Charter of 97% ", Lukashenko arrived in Moscow for the celebration already sick. A few days before that, while communicating with his subordinates, he was very hoarse. And the dictator's hand could have been rewound due to the fact that a catheter was left on it after drops. At the same time, during the laying of flowers at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Belarusian dictator was unable to walk a short distance on his own, which immediately aroused suspicion that he was not feeling well.
President Alexander Lukashenko was reportedly taken to hospital in Moscow in critical condition after meeting Russian premier Vladimir Putin. On 27 May 2023 Lukashenko's opponent Valery Tsepkalo tweeted to say the 68-year-old Belarusian President was “urgently transported to Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital after his closed-door meeting with Putin." In his latest tweet he claimed that The Kremlin has initiated "Cover-up" operation through spreading information about a scheduled medical examination of Lukashenko. The reports are all based on a single source's information, and Lukashenko reportedly resurfaced in Minsk on 29 May 2023 and allegedly met with head of the Russian central bank Elvira Nabiullina.
At his press conference on 26 January 2025, he dismissed rumours that he was planning to hand over to one of his three sons. He said his youngest son Nikolai "could not imagine in his worst dream" that he could be president and "none of my sons could". He said it was up to a "new generation" to take over, with the strongman – who has promoted a macho image of himself – saying a woman should not lead Belarus.
The life expectancy at birth in Belarus is significantly higher for females than males, with WHO data published in 2020 reporting women living an average of 79.6 years and men living an average of 69.7 years. On 30 August 2024 he celecbrated his 70th birthday. The birth and death dates of his father are unknown, so there is no geneological basis for estimsting hid life expectancy. "It's not a job for a woman. I'm totally against a woman doing this job. A woman can't be a dictator but we have quite a few men who could be leaders," he said.
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