In Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko offered a rare and telling glimpse into the private register of his alliance with Vladimir Putin — a friendship apparently comfortable enough to trade jokes about who better deserves the label history has already assigned them both. The remark, made casually before an audience of Belarusian youth leaders, illuminates a partnership that is anything but casual in its consequences: Belarus has become a foundational pillar of Russia's war in Ukraine, and Lukashenko, ruling since 1994, shows no sign of loosening his grip on either power or alliance. As Western sanctio