Pictured last weekend sporting body armour and an assault rifle, Belarus's embattled dictator has shown the world that he does not plan to go down without a fight. Yet as Alexander Lukashenko defies protesters calling for his downfall, it is not just his own fate that hangs in the balance. So does that of his 15-year-old son, Nikolai - his presumed heir to power. Ever since he was old enough to walk, Nikolai has been paraded at his father's side, meeting world leaders at the highest level. By the age of 11, he had been pictured with everyone from Barack Obama and the Pope through to China's Xi Jinping. Last weekend, he also had a starring role in his father's belligerent photo op, dressed in military fatigues and likewise clutching an AK-47. One picture showed him and his father disembarking from a helicopter, accompanied by the riot police Mr Lukashenko has used to crack down on protesters. Another showed Nikolai guarding Mr Lukashenko in his palace in Minsk, as thousands demonstrated outside. The constant photos of the pair together over the years have fuelled fears that Mr Lukashenko wants a North Korean-style dynastic regime - something opponents regard as their worst nightmare.
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