Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko has been in power for more than 30 years and just won another election widely regarded as rigged. Why are the streets of Minsk quiet? Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya,

Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election that Western governments rejected as a sham.

After breaking away from a crumbling Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Belarus became increasingly aligned with Russia, unlike its neighbors. That bond strengthened as Russia waged its war against Ukraine.

Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election Western governments rejected as a sham.

Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov said in an interview with the Russian Izvestia newspaper.

Belarusians are voting in a closely-managed presidential election that is all but certain to extend the one-man rule of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and Europe’s longest-serving leader.

The treaties with Iran and Belarus are different from the one Russia reached with North Korea, and there has been no attempt to link any of them.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for over 30 years, is poised to extend his rule in an election that concludes Sunday and that the opposition dismisses as a

Near a border checkpoint between Belarus and Ukraine, anti-tank spikes and concrete pyramids block what was once a bustling road between two peaceful neighbours.

The Kremlin is trying to cripple YouTube in Russia, internet experts say, pushing some people to state-controlled domestic alternatives. But many Russians have found workarounds.

Ukraine is calling on its partners to impose sanctions against Belarusian defense industry enterprises that help Russia fulfill its state defense order and thus kill Ukrainians. — Ukrinform.