Sochi, Russia

Strongman meeting: Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support this week for embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has faced almost daily mass protests at home after he apparently rigged his Aug. 9 re-election. During a meeting at Putin’s Black Sea residence, an obsequious Lukashenko referred to Russia as an “elder brother” to Belarus, and Putin promised a $1.5 billion loan and reiterated that Russia would honor all obligations under the two countries’ military alliance. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claims she won the August vote and is now in exile in Lithuania, condemned Putin for meeting with “a usurper and not with the Belarusian people.”