During official ceremonies and visits of heads of state, they always stand in the place of honor. Beautiful, dressed by the best tailors and combed by the masters of hairdressing. They are the showcase of their husbands. Things are quite different in Belarus. Although Alexander Lukashenka has been married for 40 years, nobody has seen the first lady for a long time ...
The current president of Belarus is said to have fallen in love at first sight. He was a tall and handsome boy, she was a petite, charming brunette. In a winter school performance, they played Dziadek Mróz and Śnieżynka together. And then it started.
Because if you love, it's a Snow White
The girl's name was Gala and she was a polite teacher's daughter. As the authors of the book “Lukashenka. The would-be tsar of Russia ”Andrzej Brzeziecki and Małgorzata Nocuń:
Lukashenka tried to get her hand as best he could: came with flowers, borrowed books for study, wanted to gain her mother's recognition .
Apparently all the girls loved him, but he preferred his "Snow White". He courted her four kilometers each way, regardless of the weather. Finally, in 1975, he managed to marry Galina Rodionovna Zhauniarovich.
And they were such a beautiful couple ... Wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Lukashenka.
Lukashenka got what he wanted and stopped trying. The collective farm was just buzzing with gossip. Faithfulness was the last thing a newly married husband could have suspected, and people kept repeating gossip about who kept his bed warm that night .
After the wedding, the future president began his political career and slowly climbed up its ranks. He quickly learned how to gain influence. He would go to traditional baths with the right people and drink vodka, eating no less traditional - pickled cucumber and sausage.
Even years after the wedding, Galina Rodionovna has retained much of her charm.
When he reached the rank of a deputy, he moved to a hotel in Minsk to be able to freely participate in the deliberations of the pride. He traveled to his homeland quite often, bringing a decent home-brew and snack from there. He did not bring his wife and sons and took great care that information about them and his private life did not enter the press.
Only sometimes Galina Rodionovna went to visit her husband. There, with kindness and simplicity, she made Lukashenka's friends and made close friends herself. With time, however, her husband cut her off from people more and more, forbidding her to contact her friends from the capital. As Svetlana Kalinkina recalls, quoted by the authors of the book "Lukashenka. The would-be tsar of Russia ":
When Lukashenka decided to run for the presidency, relations in his family must have been going poorly. As far as I know, the president took his wife on a business trip only once, it was a trip to Jerusalem in which Boris Yeltsin and his wife Naina also took part.
Masculinity of the Soviet man
The new president of Belarus is beginning to follow the example of Soviet generals. As a child, he saw them on television. Lukashenka is a Soviet man, steeped in Sovietness ( read more about the beginnings of his career! ). Thus, he begins to transform the ceremonial setting of state ceremonies in a manner known to him - into the Soviet fashion.
Serious, in uniform, decorated with orders, he speaks with a booming voice. A model of masculinity and strength, in his own opinion, like Stalin. In this flood of testosterone, there is no room for a woman by her side. Did the "sun of nations" Josif Vissarionovich appear with the first lady of the Soviet Union?
With Lukashenka assuming the presidency, the forced exile of Galina Rodionovna also begins. The wife remained in a modest house in the country and tried with all her strength to preserve at least the remnants of her former life . Apart from him, both of Aleksander's sons left for permanent residence in order to pursue a career under their father's wings.
Lukashenka with two older sons who were born to him by Galina. The youngest of the clan, Kola, is the fruit of a later romance.
Loneliness, however, was not the last problem of the abandoned first lady. Aleksandr made sure that her native village became the truest prison for her.
How is the princess in the tower?
At first, Galina moved freely around her village. She met her neighbors for gossip, went shopping.
As the authors of the book “Lukashenka. The would-be tsar of Russia ":
Lukashenka's wife at the beginning of Alexander Grigorievich's presidency allowed herself to be photographed during her favorite activities such as milking cows or riding a horse-drawn cart .
The press mocked her, the photos were signed:"The First Lady of Belarus". After these publications, Galina Rodionovna was "gagged", is forbidden to contact journalists.
In a way, Lukashenka's wife decided her fate herself. With her openness, she encouraged people to seek intercession from her in various matters. The husband didn't like it.
On the left, Galina Rodionovna milking her favorite cow. On the right, Irina Abelskaya, who succeeded her alongside the president.
She owes it, shouldn't interfere in politics
According to an old Soviet custom, there were pleading lines with cakes, flowers and other gifts at the door of the president's wife. Galina not only listened to them, but also tried to intervene in various matters as best she could. In the end, in response to this "activity" ... Lukashenka's house was surrounded by a high brick wall, and access to the president's office was defended by security.
In practice, the first lady's house arrest began. The male half of the family does not show up in the village anymore and only on the occasion of Christmas Galina Rodionovna gets a few days' pass and goes to Minsk to see her children and grandchildren.
The case of the first lady of Belarus has another bottom. Galina Rodionovna, a plump and jovial woman from the countryside, was unofficially exchanged for a younger model. Already in the first year in office, Alexander Lukashenka made his personal doctor Irina Abelskaya.
A slim blue-eyed blonde with a flirtatious look accompanied the president practically everywhere - during foreign visits and at official state ceremonies. The romance had been going on for years, and the informal First Lady had pushed the righteous one into the shadows.
Little Kola out of nowhere?
Abelskaya became the most powerful woman in Belarus, and her family gained incredible influence. Finally, Irina gave birth to a child. Everyone knew, although no one dared to say it openly, that Mikołaj (known as Kola) was the son of the president.
The situation has become quite bizarre. Galina Rodionovna was locked in a provincial village, and in the capital, the special services secured the delivery room, where Abelskaya gave birth to the head of state's child .
Everything indicates that Lukashenka is raising his youngest, illegitimate son Kola as his successor.
Official media on this topic took water in the mouth, and in the homes of ordinary citizens, rumors were booming. Besides, as the authors of the book “Lukashenka. The would-be tsar of Russia ":
[…] Koli's existence was hidden from the world for four years. Lukashenka even ignored the fact of having a third son when filling in tax returns.
When opposition politicians alluded to Alexander Grigoryevich's personal life, complained that his wife was under house arrest and the president had an illegitimate child and mistress, he replied accusations, addressing not to political opponents, but to your electorate:"If you want a first lady, elect them", "Their" - that is, the opposition.
As if nothing had happened, Lukashenka kept his wife locked up and exchanged his mistress for new and newer models. What's more, the illegitimate son, Kola, began to appear at his father's side as a four-year-old child. He was dressed in a microscopic uniform sewn especially for him and a tie. The blond-haired toddler dressed in this way received military parades. Only in the opposition press the question appeared from time to time: Where is Kola's mother?