Belarus, a close Russia ally, criticises Putin's Crimea grab

Russia's annexation of Crimea has provoked unease among one of its closest allies, with Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus, warning on Sunday that the step "sets a bad precedent".

Mr Lukashenko went on to say that, "Ukraine should stay a united, undivided, nonaligned state."

Events in Ukraine have created enormous problems for Belarus, dubbed "Europe's last true dictatorship" by US officials. Mr Lukashenko has been in power since 1994, remaining in office by supplying his 9.5m people with political and economic stability mixed with repression for those daring to challenge his rule.

The sight of protesters taking to the streets of Kiev and removing their president in February was one that Mr Lukashenko said "disgusted and repelled" him. "It is not OK when the legitimate government is deposed this way and a new government is installed," he said.

But Belarus has been unsettled by Russia's declaration that it has the right to intervene in neighbouring countries to protect Russian minorities. About 11 per cent of Belarus' population are ethnic Russians, and 70 per cent of the population are primarily Russian speakers.

That declaration - delivered by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, as a justification for seizing Crimea - has stirred fears that other nearby regions, such as Moldova, could also be vulnerable.

Like Ukraine, Belarus gave up its nuclear weapons inherited after the fall of the Soviet Union in return for Britain, the US and Russia guaranteeing its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"I would say to the west that Crimea is not dangerous because it has become a part of Russia, what is important is the precedent," said Mr Lukashenko.

The Belarusian president responded with force when several thousand protesters marched through Minsk to protest flawed presidential elections in December 2010. Seven rival presidential candidates and hundreds of demonstrators were arrested, prompting the EU and US to levy sanctions against key regime supporters.

Cut off from the EU, Belarus turned to Russia, which rescued the country with emergency loans in 2011 and now dominates the Belarusian economy. Together with Kazakhstan, Belarus has committed to join an economic union with Russia. That same union tempted Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovich from spurning an association agreement with the EU, setting off the revolt that unseated him.

Belarus has also turned to Russia for military help, asking for the deployment of military aircraft after Nato increased its air presence in Poland and the Baltic states following Russia's invasion of Crimea.

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Mr Lukashenko said he had been in touch with Mr Putin to reassure him: "There is no reason to worry; Belarus will always be with the Russian Federation."

But Mr Lukashenko has also been carefully unenthusiastic about Russia's annexation of Crimea. "Crimea today is a part of Russia, and recognising or not recognising that fact changes nothing," he said.

He also appeared cool towards the Russian proposal that Ukraine be turned into a federal state - one of Moscow's controversial proposals for ending the conflict with its neighbour. The scheme is popular in southern and eastern Ukraine, populated largely by Russians and Russian speakers who want less control from Kiev.

"A federation is a piano on which forces from the one side or the other side will play, including those from outside," the Belarusian leader said. "That will permanently destabilise the situation."

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