[116], On 9 August 2020, according to the preliminary count, Lukashenko was re-elected for his sixth term as the President of Belarus. Later that year, his oldest son, Viktor, was born. For the young democratic republic this raised the controversial issue of the Russification of Belarus. One soldier plays with a dog named Kalashnikov while others fall asleep on the grass during a short break. [103][104] Between 13 July 2019, he oversaw the country's celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Minsk Offensive, which culminated in an evening military parade of the Armed Forces of Belarus on the last day, which is the country's Independence Day. 2004, 53, with five artillery brigades and two independent battalions. Although large in numbers, some Western experts consider some of it outdated. The largest protest occurred on election night; reporters for the Associated Press estimated that approximately 10,000 people turned out. The evening routine: mending uniforms in front of the state-run news broadcast. They consist of three independent brigades and seven independent battalions (consecutively numbered). [37] Shortly after that, a referendum was held on 24 November 1996 in which four questions were offered by Lukashenko and three offered by a group of Parliament members. This page was last edited on 4 July 2022, at 06:41. In 1994 the 7th Army Corps was redesignated as the 65th Army Corps, still located at Borisov. [21], In 1979, he joined the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Byelorussia. [170], On September 1, 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) declared that its experts received reports of 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of people who were arrested during the protests following the presidential election. In July 1993, it was converted into a museum on the military . A major devaluation took place in 2011 after the government announced that average salaries would increase to US$500. Starting with an interview given in 2009 Lukashenko has said that his actual birthday is 31 August, the same as his son's Nikolai's. [139] Two suspects, who were detained at Lukashenko's request, were Alexander Feduta[ru; be] and Yuri Zenkovich[ru; be]. This was held on 17 October 2004, the same day as parliamentary elections, and, according to official results, was approved by 79.42% of voters.