Ukraine denies Belarus recognition of presidential vote
January 24, Pozirk. Kyiv does not yet see any prerequisites for resuming contacts with Alaksandar Łukašenka, so the issue of recognizing his legitimacy after the announcement of official election results is irrelevant to Ukraine, said Heorhii Tykhyi, the spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry.
“On January 26, that is, this Sunday, Belarus will hold a vote that we would like to call a presidential election, if there were grounds for it,” Tykhyi told reporters yesterday. “There is nothing unexpected for us in this spectacle and, in principle, its results are known in advance.”
The foreign ministry said Łukašenka “will continue to be Putin’s ally and accomplice in his war against Ukraine, which is contrary to the interests of the Belarusian people.”
The ministry said that both dictators will continue to imitate a fierce struggle against the so-called Western threats with which they intimidate their citizens. Ukraine supports the position of the United States and its allies regarding the lack of basic conditions for fair and transparent elections in Belarus, it said.
It pointed out that Belarusians abroad are effectively deprived of the right to participate in elections, which also significantly affects the results of any vote in their homeland.
Kyiv believes that the Belarusian people deserve the right “to choose their government in truly democratic, free, competitive elections and to build their own future without Russia’s dictates, without its imperial encroachments and without Moscow’s desire to impose the role of controlled puppets on its neighbors, as is currently happening.”
Tykhyi thanked the Belarusians who are fighting on the side of Ukraine.
