Migrant Crisis in Belarus Tests Putin’s Uneasy Alliance With Lukashenko

Last year Vladimir V. Putin helped save Aleksandr G. Lukashenko’s Belarusian regime. But Russia now has an ever-more-erratic ally and risks entanglement in a dangerous crisis.

MOSCOW — As European governments threatened Belarus with deeper sanctions this week for fomenting the migration crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border, its bombastic leader countered with what sounded like a trump card: he could stop the flow of gas to the West.

There was just one problem: It wasn’t his gas to stop.

So on Friday, Russia — which sends much of its gas to Europe via Belarus — had to set the record straight for the Belarusian president, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko.