The US State Department released a statement Wednesday that the US no longer recognizes Aleksandr Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus after Lukashenko reportedly held a secretive inauguration, according to Axios.
“The United States cannot consider Aleksandr Lukashenko the legitimately elected leader of Belarus. The path forward should be a national dialogue leading to the Belarusian people enjoying their right to choose their leaders in a free and fair election under independent observation,” The State Department said in a statement.
Belarusians took to the street to protest Lukashenko’s claim of victory, saying he won as much as 80% of the vote. More than 100,000 took to the streets of Minsk for seven consecutive weekends after reports of numerous and widespread election irregularities emerged.
Lukashenko’s political opponents in Belarus were harassed and threatened throughout the election, with some facing criminal charges and one fleeing the country.
Lukashenko is an acolyte of Russian President Vladimir Putin and recently secured a $1.5 billion loan from Russia, supposedly to deal with national debt issues. There’s no word if the Trump campaign will be hiring Lukashenko as a campaign consultant.