- Europe’s last dictator, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said on Tuesday that he had COVID-19 but that it has already recovered.
- “Today you meet a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on foot. The doctors reached that conclusion yesterday. Asymptomatic,” said Lukashenko.
- Lukashenko previously dismissed fears about COVID-19 as a “psychosis” and recommended drinking vodka to stay healthy.
- The Belarusian leader, who has been in power for 25 years, has recently faced massive protests after his opponents were jailed and banned from running in the upcoming presidential election on August 8.
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Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Tuesday that he had asymptomatic COVID-19, but said he had already recovered from it.
“Today she meets a man who managed to survive the coronavirus on foot. The doctors reached that conclusion yesterday. Asymptomatic,” Lukashenko said during a meeting with members of the military, Reuters reported.
Lukashenko, who ruled Belarus for 25 years and is often referred to as Europe’s “last dictator”, has lobbied against imposing restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and previously dismissed fears about the pandemic as a “psychosis “
The Belarusian leader also suggested that people drink vodka and go to the sauna to stay healthy and avoid the virus.
Lukashenko has been frequently criticized for human rights abuses, particularly for harassment of civil society activists and independent media. Belarus is also the only European country that continues to use the death penalty.
He faced massive protests this summer after his political rivals were jailed and his main opponents were unable to participate in the upcoming Belarusian presidential election on August 9. One of the opponents, Viktor Babaryko, was arrested in June and remained behind bars in mid-July. , according to Russian media reports. The other, Valery Tsepkalo, fled to Russia for fear of his freedom.