When Alexander Lukashenko became its president in 1994, Belarus was an obscure country that had not even existed for three years. Over the next quarter-century, slotxo he brought it to the world's notice through dramatic repression, erratic behavior and colorful threats.

Sunday's forced diversion of a commercial airliner and arrest of an opposition figure who was aboard epitomized his rule.

His disdain for democratic norms and country's dismal human rights record has made Belarus a pariah in the West, bringing him the sobriquet of “Europe's last dictator.”

The 66-year-old Lukashenko prefers to be styled as “Batka” - “Father” or “Dad” —a stern but wise patriarch leading a country out of infancy.

Although he has made occasional moves toward rapprochement with the West, Lukashenko abandoned conciliation after massive demonstrations rose up against him in 2020 following an election to a sixth term as president. The opposition, and many in the West, rejected the outcome as rigged.

Tens of thousands of protesters were arrested, many of them beaten by police; main opposition figures either fled the country or were jailed; foreign journalists were driven out of the country; and ordinary citizens reportedly were arrested for so-called “unauthorized mass gatherings” such as birthday parties and bicycle races. “

By suppressing opposition through harsh police actions and arbitrary arrests, along with keeping much of the economy under state control, Lukashenko made Belarus into a neo-Soviet outlier, wary of its thriving NATO and European Union neighbors. He alternately quarreled with and cozied up to Russia.

He's noted for mercurial actions and provocative statements, which a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable assessed as outright "bizarre."

In a famously bellicose moment in 2006, he threatened protesters by saying he would "wring their necks like a duck." He also attracted uneasy note this year during a Christmas season TV interview in his kitchen when he let his little fluffy dog ​​walk among the festive dishes on the table.

The apogee of his draconian dramatics came on Sunday, when he ordered a fighter jet to intercept a commercial airliner bound for Lithuania and carrying one of his self-exiled opponents, journalist Raman Pratasevich. Belarusian authorities said the action was taken after a bomb threat was made against the plane, but Western officials dismissed that as a preposterous attempt to disguise an act of piracy.