Miss Belarus, Maria Vasilevich and Alexander Lukashenk

In 1999 Lukashenko and Yeltsin succeeded in signing a Treaty on the Creation of a Union State, which proposed broad cooperation but stipulated independence for both states. Although Lukashenko’s term of office had been scheduled to expire in 1999, he continued in office under the new terms he had negotiated. Reelected in 2001, he oversaw the passage in 2004 of a controversial amendment that allowed him to seek a third term.