Belarus leader skips public ceremony

Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday skipped festivities celebrating the ex-Soviet country's state symbols following reports focusing on his health.

The 68-year-old leader has not been seen in public for the past five days.

On Sunday, the former Soviet country paid tribute to three state symbols including its flag and anthem.

Standing in a central Minsk square, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko congratulated Belarusians on behalf of the strongman Lukashenko during a televised ceremony.

Lukashenko has not been seen in public since Tuesday when he travelled to Moscow to take part in festivities to celebrate the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Many journalists noted that Lukashenko looked tired in Moscow and skipped a lunch hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and attended by the leaders of Armenia and Central Asian countries.

Andrei Kolesnikov, a Kremlin pool reporter for the Russian newspaper Kommersant, wrote that Lukashenko looked "unwell" and had to be driven near the Kremlin in an electric car.

In a break from tradition, Lukashenko also did not address Belarusian war veterans on May 9.

Lukashenko's spokespeople have not commented on his recent whereabouts.

The mustachioed former collective farm boss has been in power in Belarus since 1994. He won a sixth term in an 2020 election that looked so rigged that hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest.

With Putin's help, Lukashenko crushed the historic protest movement, jailing or pushing into exile all key opposition figures.

When Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, Lukashenko threw his firm support behind the Kremlin chief. He allowed Putin to use Belarusian territory as a staging ground for Russia's intervention in Ukraine and welcomed wounded Russian soldiers for treatment in the ex-Soviet country.