He has been dubbed Europe's last dictator. He is known for jailing his political enemies, closing down theater productions and presiding -- in the words of one opposition leader -- over a "horrible" regime.
But Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus' autocratic president, has come up with a solution to overcome his pariah status: He has hired veteran British spin doctor Tim Bell.
The president's Web site said Lukashenko met Bell last week. The PR guru, who is better known for masterminding Margaret Thatcher's election campaigns, was invited to come up with a strategy to improve Belarus's dismal image.
"He would like his country to be better understood, and his successes to be better grasped," Bell told the Moscow Times, after meeting the president at his Minsk office. "Lukashenko doesn't see why Belarus can't be a friend to the west and a friend to Russia at the same time."
Bell is no stranger to controversial clients. As well as Thatcher, the 66-year-old has advised Iraq's government on how to promote democracy. Bell has represented Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky in his battle with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, following the 2006 murder of the dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
But Lukashenko is arguably his toughest brief yet. The EU and the US have imposed a visa ban on Lukashenko and other Belarus officials. In 2005 the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, named Belarus an "outpost of tyranny". Human rights groups accuse Lukashenko, president since 1994, of presiding over an imitation Soviet regime with secret police, fraudulent elections and jailed opponents.
One leading opposition figure said on Monday that Bell's new job was a "mission impossible."
"The regime is horrible. There are gross violations. We don't have free elections. We have political prisoners. Independent press is almost non-existent," Andrei Sannikov, Belarus' former deputy foreign minister, said.
Asked why Lukashenko had turned to Bell, he said: "The economic situation is getting worse. Lukashenko is trying to preserve power. Russia will not help him. He is trying to diversify his resources and relationships with the outside world."
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