Shuster: Lukashenka Is Nobody

He makes no decisions.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka is not in charge of the situation in the country - Russia makes the decisions, journalist and broadcaster Savik Shuster says. He says this in an interview with the editor in chief of the newspaper Gordon Alesa Batzman.

"I think that Russia has been in charge there for a long time... I think the FSB occupies all the key positions. And I think Lukashenka is surrounded by them. One wouldn't call him a "lame duck," because he's not like a president who lost an election - and he has a two-month transition period left. He's not a "lame duck" in that sense. I think he is just a pawn in their struggle," Shuster.

He recalls that Russians can attack Ukraine from the territory of Belarus. They operate Belarusian weaponry, bring in and take out their weapons and control the airspace.

"As for Lukashenka, it seems to me that he is nobody now. And he does not run anything; he does not make any decisions. This is my feeling... Lukashenka is a person who changes all the time. He adapts to the situation: he blends in. But now, after all the protests and after retaining power, and after giving him so much money to continue existence - he is nobody. He is just nobody. He makes no decisions at all, I think. And it's definitely not up to him to decide whether the troops from Belarus will go back to Ukraine," Shuster concluded.