Belarus president brings 11-year-old son to UN

Alexander Lukashenko may be running for his fifth consecutive term as president of Belarus this month, but he’s already well ahead of the game when it comes to grooming a successor.

The self-admitted “authoritarian” leader has brought his 11-year-old son Kolya to the United Nations general assembly in New York this week, giving his chosen heir a firsthand look at the fine points of international diplomacy.

Seated between the foreign minister and presidential press secretary, Kolya watched attentively from the gallery as his father decried western military interventions in the Middle East.

Lukashenko’s 11 year old son representing Belarus at the UN. pic.twitter.com/BMd6O4ZNPR

— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) September 29, 2015

On Saturday, father and son visited the memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Often called Europe’s last dictator, Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with a heavy hand since 1994, jailing critics and opposition leaders. Although he has two adult sons, he has indicated that the young Kolya, whose mother has never officially been identified, will be his preferred successor.

Kolya first appeared in public in 2007, when he was three, and in the following years began to accompany his father to almost all state events. A real-life version of Mini-Me, he often appears dressed in a suit resembling that of his father. He has also been seen in military garb at army exercises and generals are required to salute the child. On one such occasion, then-president Dmitry Medvedev of Russia gave Kolya a golden pistol. Lukashenko has said that Kolya “has never gone to bed and has never woken up without me”.

Also this week, it emerged that Lukashenko has allocated $2m (£1.3m) to a Russian-French-Belarusian movie about second world war fighter pilots, starring Gerard Depardieu. The news comes after the scandal-prone French actor, who has taken Russian citizenship, visited Belarus in July.