title: Loekasjenka's maskerade
abstract: This article analyzes how Belarus under Alexandr Lukachenko has used strategic narratives as instruments of regime survival between 1994 and 2023. Applying Mearsheimer’s offensive realism and Roselle, Miskimmon and O’Loughlin’s narrative framework, it traces shifts from early equidistant neutrality to post-Crimea controlled solidarity, the collapse of ambiguity during the 2020 protests, and eventual alignment with Russia after the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. System, identity, and issue 
journal: Skript Historisch Tijdschrift