Belarus Dictator Says He's Totally Not Building a Dynasty

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, left, with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and his 7-year-old son, Nikolai, during an official visit to Caracas in June. Photo: Office of the President of Venezuela

Dictatorship is a hereditary business, because in a dictatorship, it's all about you. And if you can't succeed yourself, at least some of your DNA can, which can work out pretty great for your kinfolk ' though that doesn't always play well with the peasants.

That's probably why Belarus' authoritarian president wants you to know he's totally not serious about statements he made regarding handing over power to his 7-year-old son Nikolai.

'I'm more and more surprised to read and hear about Lukashenko being meant to stay forever and ever,' Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday, according to Russia news wire RIA Novosti. He added that his kids have grown weary of this whole presidency-for-life thing. 'I repeat for the umpteenth time, without making apologies: My children have had more than their fair share of presidency under their father. There cannot be any hereditary transfer of power.'

The 57-year-old potentate ' also commonly referred to as 'Europe's last dictator' ' denied a statement made last week during a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Accompanied by Nikolai, Lukashenko reportedly said to Chávez: 'You're correct in pointing out that my kid is here alongside us. This shows that we have seriously and lastingly established the foundation for our cooperation, and that in 20 to 25 years there will be someone to take over the reins of this cooperation.'

Nikolai, also known as Kolya, frequently appears at public events with his father. He's met with the Pope, appeared at military events in a camouflage mini-uniform while carrying a gold-plated pistol, and delivered flowers to the scene of a deadly April 2011 bombing at a Minsk subway station. He has also accompanied his daddy to the ballot box. For the record: Belarus' last presidential election was rigged, and pro-democracy protesters were beaten by police. International observers and human rights groups later alleged widespread use of torture against political dissidents during the December 2011 crackdown.

Meanwhile, Lukashenko made an awkward appearance at the Euro 2012 final in Ukraine's capital, Kiev. This is while he's suspected by U.S. officials of aiding Syrian dictator Bashar Assad by supplying 'fiber-optic gyroscopes' to improve the accuracy of Syria's surface-to-surface missiles.

The identity of Kolya's mother 'has never been made public,' according to The Independent, though Kolya's mother has been reported to be Lukashenko's personal doctor, Irina. Lukashenko's two adult sons, named Viktor and Dmitry, were raised by a now-estranged mother 'who it is believed now lives on a cattle farm in rural Belarus,' the newspaper noted. In 2007, when Nikolai was three, Lukashenko said his son is 'unique' and will be groomed to become Belarus' next leader. 'It remained unclear how serious he was at the time,' noted RIA Novosti.

If Lukashenko holds on to power for another 20-25 years, that will mean Belarus' president will leave office while pushing his eighties. A future President Kolya will be in his late twenties, at minimum ' a few years short of the requirement (per the Belarus constitution) that the president be at least 35 years old. That's also slightly older than when warlord Ramzan Kadyrov was declared president of Chechnya.

Kadyrov was decreed president of the Moscow-backed republic at age 30, the minimum age required to hold the office, by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2007. The post was filled (until Kadyrov met the requirement) by interim presidents after Kadyrov's father, Akhmad Kadyrov, was killed by a bomb blast during a military parade in 2004. And in 20 years, North Korea's 28-year-old leader Kim Jong-un will be middle-aged.

The other question is what Hugo Chávez thinks of all this. Unlike Lukashenko, Chávez has not groomed a potential heir and he's also standing for re-election in October. Perhaps he'll want to adopt Kolya now that Lukashenko says the kid won't be running Belarus.