"I do not rule out that this gift could have been brought from outside, " Lukashenko said.
Mr Lukashenko is said to have guaranteed that Mr Barankov would not face the death penalty.
In response, both the U.S. and the European Union have imposed political and economic sanctions on Lukashenko's regime.
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And Mr. Lukashenko is the only ex-Soviet leader to have proudly retained the name "KGB" for his security services.
Mr. Lukashenko is in trouble if his social pact begins to seriously fray.
More than 30 world leaders attended the ceremony, including Cuban President Raul Castro, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.
If Alexander Lukashenko gained victory in 2004, this does not mean at all that he will be able to win in 2006.
President Alexander Lukashenko did not say what caused the explosion at the Oktyabrskaya subway station, but suggested outside forces could be behind it.
Though Lukashenko was quite vocal in his opposition to this act, Belarus eventually paid off its debts to get the natural gas flowing again.
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The Russians, with whom Mr. Lukashenko has a "close but dysfunctional relationship, " as one EU diplomat puts it, have reduced their economic support for Belarus in the last couple of years.
And so Lukashenko has declared a war on laziness.
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Lukashenko has argued that, because of the customs union relations Belarus has with Russia, it should not have to pay duties on Russian energy exports and should have a favorable price for natural gas.
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In the end, Lukashenko capitulated.
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The Russian-Belarusian nuclear power plant project, estimated to have a capacity of 2.4 gigawatts (GW) and set to be commissioned in 2018, has been a controversial topic given that the project was signed between Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the midst of the Japanese nuclear disaster.
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