MR. PUTIN AND THE DICTATOR :: Charter'97 :: News

WITH MOST of his neighbors preoccupied with the war on terrorism or crises in the Middle East and South Asia, Europe`s last dictator was enjoying a quiet year until recently. Alexander Lukashenko, who rules the 10 million people of Belarus, was free to continue propping up his regime with the kind of police-state tactics associated with the former Soviet Union, of which Belarus was a part. Last month, for example, two journalists were sentenced to two or more years of unpaid public labor for "libeling the president"; they were bold enough to refer in print to the abduction and disappearance of several prominent opponents of Mr. Lukashenko. Parliament meanwhile rubber-stamped a new law severely restricting religious organizations, including most Protestant faiths.

For years the United States and most European governments have condemned and isolated Mr. Lukashenko, but to little effect. That`s because Mr. Lukashenko doesn`t need much from the West, either economically or politically. Though wretchedly poor, Belarus has been able to limp through the past decade thanks to massive subsidies from Russia. Mr. Lukashenko has helped to keep the money flowing by pledging fealty to Moscow; unlike every other leader in Central Europe, he scorns NATO and the European Union. That`s why Europe still has a dictatorship, two years after the downfall of Serbia`s Slobodan Milosevic -- because both of Russia`s post-Communist presidents, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, have found it convenient to preserve Mr. Lukashenko`s regime.

Mr. Putin, who says Russia belongs in the club of Western democracies, stood by last September while Mr. Lukashenko blatantly rigged a presidential election to extend his term in office. Mr. Putin`s government did not act on abundant evidence that Mr. Lukashenko was murdering his political foes, even though one of them, Dmitri Zavadsky, worked for a Russian news organization. Now, at last, Mr. Putin is suggesting a change of policy. Twice in the past few weeks he has publicly condemned Mr. Lukashenko`s fondest scheme: the construction of a union between Belarus and Russia in which Minsk would have equal weight with Moscow. There is no reason to recreate "something like the Soviet Union," Mr. Putin said; if the two countries really were to join, Belarus would have to give up its sovereignty or accept a limited partnership along the lines of the European Union.

Mr. Putin was only stating the obvious. Until now, however, neither he nor any other Russian leader has been ready to say publicly that Mr. Lukashenko`s plan -- which allows him to dream of someday ruling from the Kremlin -- is "legalistic nonsense." It`s not clear that democratic principle motivated the change of heart; Mr. Lukashenko reportedly has been stiff-arming Russian oligarchs who have been seeking to take over Belarus`s state-owned industries. But now that he has popped Mr. Lukashenko`s bubble, Mr. Putin has the chance to demonstrate that he genuinely shares the values and interests of the Western democracies by joining in their effort to end a dictatorship that, without Russia, would have collapsed long ago. Belarusian activists and Russian lawmakers reported last week that Mr. Putin had agreed to take up the cases of Mr. Lukashenko`s disappeared opponents; that would be an excellent way to start.