Lukashenko is generally derided for “sitting on two chairs” playing Europe against Russia (while acknowledging his impressive ability to do so for so many years). He also carried the country through the post-Soviet trouble period much better than most other former republics, for which he gets some respect.
Note that he has firmly purged the government of pro-Russian politicians over the years so there are no illusions about his friendship.
Russians are different. For many Lukashenko's Belarus was their soviet dream, carefully conserved and preserved. For many Lukashenko is dictator along with Putin. Some Russians don't even understand why Belarus is not in the Russia and will welcome every move to unite those countries.
I don't think that there's a singular view to Belarus.
There has been lots of hypothetical talk about potential re-merging of Russia and Belarus into a single polity (they were practically single state during Soviet Union).
Lukashenko is generally derided for “sitting on two chairs” playing Europe against Russia (while acknowledging his impressive ability to do so for so many years). He also carried the country through the post-Soviet trouble period much better than most other former republics, for which he gets some respect.
Note that he has firmly purged the government of pro-Russian politicians over the years so there are no illusions about his friendship.