February 26, Pozirk. Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Alaksandar Łukašenka “on the confident victory of the Belarusian patriotic forces” in the February 20-25 parliamentary and local elections.
“High voter turnout and the voting results clearly confirm the broad support for the harmonious socio-economic development course of Belarus under your leadership, ensuring domestic political stability and promotion of mutually beneficial integration within the Union State,” Putin’s press office quoted him as saying.
The Russian ruler also hopes that newly elected Belarusian MPs and local council deputies will cooperate with their Russian counterparts.
The elections took place amid mass-scale reprisals and a political landscape purge. Not a single opposition candidate was allowed to run.
About two-thirds of the newly elected MPs, 70 out of 110, represent pro-government parties, while the rest are nonpartisan supporters of Łukašenka.
The United States and other democratic countries condemned Belarus’ elections as a sham. Ukrainian MPs from the For Democratic Belarus parliamentary group made a similar statement.
