Does Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, have Ukrainian ancestry? No, that's not true: While there have been rumors circulating about his Ukrainian origin for many years, there is no official confirmation or evidence to support this claim. Alexander Lukashenko was born in the village of Kopys in the Vitebsk region of the Belarusian SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic) in 1954. He has identified himself as Belarusian throughout his political career and has been the President of Belarus since 1994.
A video (archived here) was posted on the TikTok account @digestpolitical on May 07, 2023. The caption in Russian reads (as translated by Lead Stories staff):
Lukashenko is a Ukrainian
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Jun 9 13:22:58 2023 UTC)
The video shows a segment of an interview with the president with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon in 2020. Gordon asked him about the alleged origin of his grandfather, supposedly from the Sumy region in Ukraine:
Are you a little bit Ukrainian?
A literal translation from Russian of Lukashenko's answer (by Lead Stories Staff) is:
Yes, but not a little bit. There is no such thing as a little. There are not a little bit of Ukrainians. They are solid Ukrainians
Lukashenko responded to this question not directly, but rather jokingly and generalizing. While he has not outright denied the possibility of having Ukrainian ancestry, in 2015, the Belarusian opposition media outlet Nasha Niva published archival documents as evidence to refute the notion of Lukashenko having Ukrainian roots.
At the time of writing, this video has been viewed approximately two and a half million times. It can also be seen on the TikTok platform here or here.
