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Putin: Russia recognizes legitimacy of Belarus' presidential election

Vladimir Putin. Photo courtesy of TASS

MINSK, 31 August (BelTA) - Russia recognizes the presidential election held in Belarus as legitimate, and Aleksandr Lukashenko - its winner, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview, aired on Sergei Brilev’s show on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, TASS informs.

“We proceed from the fact that the election was successful. I did it right away, we recognized its legitimacy and, as you know, I congratulated Aleksandr Grigoriyevich Lukashenko on winning this election,” Vladimir Putin said.

The Russian president believes that the refusal of representatives of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to come to observe the election in Belarus gives grounds to suspect that the Western position regarding this process was prepared in advance. “The Belarusian authorities invited the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to take part in monitoring the election. Why didn't they come? It immediately leads us to the conclusion that their position on the results of this election has already been decided,” he said.

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