Britain and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) condemned the undemocratic nature of the elections in Belarus and the ensuing violence against citizens protesting against the voting results.
“The violence that we witnessed that night in Belarus and the attempts of the Belarusian authorities to suppress the protests are completely unacceptable,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s press secretary told reporters.
He also noted that London has repeatedly condemned the anti-democratic practices of the Belarusian leadership. “Earlier, we have repeatedly stated our serious concern about the anti-democratic actions of Belarus, including the detention of opposition candidates, peaceful demonstrators and journalists. We again express our concern to the government of Belarus after these protests, ”said a representative of the British Prime Minister.
The head of the PACE, Rick Daems, made a similar statement. “I closely followed the presidential elections in Belarus, as well as the events that took place yesterday evening after the end of the voting. I deeply regret that these elections were far from being considered free and fair, ”the organization’s press service quoted him as saying.
Earlier, the headquarters of the opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said they did not recognize the results of the official vote count and considered the figures announced by the republic’s CEC to be the result of large-scale falsifications.
In turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin and leader of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping congratulated Lukashenko on his victory.
