Big Shots: When Strongmen Pick Up Guns
- By RFE/RL
Beleaguered Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka stunned the world by arming himself with an assault rifle during massive protests against his rule on August 23. Here are some other strong-armed leaders snapped with guns.
1
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka is armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and wearing a tactical vest near the Palace of Independence in Minsk on August 23 during massive protests against his rule after a disputed election.
2
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei clutches a rifle with a telescopic sight as he speaks during prayers to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Tehran in June 2019.
3
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein fires a rifle with one hand while holding a cigar in the other during a military parade in December 2000.
4
Russian President Vladimir Putin aims a sniper rifle at the Kalashnikov shooting range in Moscow in September 2019.
5
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev fires a pistol at a shooting range in an unknown location.
6
General Pervez Musharraf, the military ruler of Pakistan, fires a gun as army officers look on in July 2004.
7
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brandishes a weapon in January 2012, shortly after taking control of the communist dictatorship.
8
Longtime Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev aims a shotgun at a shooting center in northern Azerbaijan in 2012.
9
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov aims an assault rifle while filming a bizarre propaganda video released in 2017.
10
Former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi holds a rifle presented to him as a gift by tribal leaders in October 2009.
11
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (left) and his Belarusian counterpart Lukashenka with the Belarusian president's 5-year-old son, Mikalay, as the boy pockets a golden pistol about 2009. The gun was a gift from Medvedev.
