He has greeted presidents wearing a tie and natty waistcoat, inspected troops in full military regalia and cast a vote in Belarus parliamentary elections. In most respects, Lukashenko jr is a model statesman in waiting. There is only one problem: he's four years old.

Nikolai - or Kolya as he is known for short - is the blond-haired son of Alexander Lukashenko, the autocratic president of Belarus, who is provoking increasing consternation by bringing his son to meetings with high ranking officials, generals and heads of state.

Observers say Lukashenko, 54, described by the US state department as "Europe's last dictator", may be using Kolya to shatter his hard-man image as Belarus attempts to forge closer ties with the EU.

Last month the boy accompanied his father, a burly former collective farm manager with a comb-over, on a state visit to Armenia. Television pictures showed Lukashenko jiggling a blank-eyed Kolya on his knee during a meeting with the president, Serzh Sarkisyan, who could scarcely conceal his discomfort at the improbable scene.

That followed an incident when Lukashenko senior, who is commander of the armed forces, met generals accompanied by Kolya in an identical camouflage cap and uniform. Officers were obliged to salute the little boy. "I was amazed and ashamed by the stupidity of it," said Pavel Kozlovsky, a former minister of defence of Belarus. "What's worse is that it's continuing."

Lukashenko defended his behaviour in a recent newspaper interview. "People say it's a PR trick - a father's care for his youngest son," he said. "In fact, it's just banal: My son, so to speak, is my tail. I can't leave him with anyone. He says, 'Papa, I'm going with you,' and that's it! I get in the helicopter - he follows."

While the president's wife Galina has never been seen in public with her husband, the couple have two sons, Viktor and Dmitry, both in their 20s. Kolya, however, is Lukashenko's son by his personal doctor, Irina Abelskaya, as he admitted last year.

Alexander Milinkevich, an opposition leader and former presidential candidate, said of Kolya's public profile: "Most Belarusians are very negative about it, especially Orthodox believers and the elderly who respect family values."

Last month the EU invited Belarus to participate in its Eastern Partnership programme to reinforce co-operation with former Soviet states. Lukashenko - once barred from visiting the EU because of Belarus's rigged 2006 elections - may be invited to Prague for talks next month. It has yet to be confirmed if Kolya will join his father.