Why is it “Lukashenka” and not “Lukashenko”? In slavic languages the “a” at the end is for females.
A mistake on the part of the journalist.
His name is Lukashenko.
Most Belarusians speak Russian and feel close to Moscow. Others don’t.
True. By the way Lukashencko is an ethnic Ukrainian, his name has to be finished with ‘cko’.
According to his Wikipedia biography, he was born in Belarus. His grandfather was from Ukraine. His mother was unmarried.
I have run across Slavic masculine names which end in -a. For example, Ivica Racan (now deceased) was Prime Minister of Croatia for several years. I used to know an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia who had been one of his students and who was as far to the left as he was.
Nikita Khrushchev is another example.
Granted, first names in -a are usually feminine. But Lukashenka is a surname anyway.
It is Lukashenka in Belorussian and Lukashenko in Russian.