Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (Belarusian: Аляксандр Рыгоравіч Лукашэнка, IPA:  Aliaksandr Hryhoravich Lukashenka; Russian: Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, IPA:  Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko) (born 30 August 1954) has served as the President of Belarus since 20 July 1994. Before his career as a politician, Lukashenko served as a military officer and worked as a director for manufacturing plants and farms. During his first two terms as President, Lukashenko restructured the Belarusian economy by introducing economic integration with the Russian Federation and building strong ties with countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Lukashenko was born on 30 August 1954 in the settlement of Kopys in the Vitebsk voblast of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. It has been alleged in the media that Lukashenko is of Ukrainian origin. Lukashenko grew up without a father in his childhood, leading him to be taunted by his schoolmates for having an unmarried mother. He graduated from the Mogilev Pedagogical Institute in 1975 and the Belarussian Agricultural Academy in 1985. He served in the Border Guard (frontier troops) from 1975 to 1977 and in the Soviet Army from 1980 to 1982. Lukashenko led a Komsomol chapter in Mogilev from 1977 to 1978. While in the Soviet Army, Lukashenko was an officer of the 120th Motorized Rifle "Guard" Division, which was based in Minsk. After leaving the military he became the deputy chairman of a collective farm in 1982 and in 1985. He was promoted to the post of director of the Gorodets state farm and construction materials plant in the Shklov district.

In 1990, Lukashenko was elected as a Deputy in the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus. He was the only deputy of the Belarusian parliament who voted against ratification of the December 1991 agreement that dissolved the Soviet Union and set up the Commonwealth of Independent States in its place.