Today, all the key opposition figures from the period are in prison or have fled abroad, like Tikhanovskaya. Former protesters still in Belarus have been scared into silence. So the opposition leader is not urging them to take to the streets again on Sunday.

Europe’s longest-serving authoritarian leader, Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko, is set to run for a seventh term on Jan. 26, 2025. And even before the first vote is counted, it can be stated with a fair degree of confidence that he will prevail.

The independent U.S.-based think tank said that the Kremlin is in "the endgame" of its plans to take over its neighbor.

Russian troops used Belarus as a staging ground during their February 2022 assault on Kyiv. Meanwhile, Lukashenko has boasted that Belarus is playing host to dozens of Russian nuclear weapons, and revealed in December that he was anticipating the arrival of new hypersonic missiles .

Belarusians vote on Sunday in a presidential election to extend Alexander Lukashenko's 30-year stranglehold on power in which he has crushed all opposition and helped his ally Russia invade Ukraine.

( MENAFN - UkrinForm) Recognition of the Legitimacy of Alexander Lukashenko after the“vote” in Belarus is not relevant for Ukraine, which also stands in solidarity with the position of Democratic countries on the lack of conditions for holding elections in Belarus in accordance with OSCE standards.

Russian, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko casts himself as a plain-spoken strongman and "president of the ordinary people".A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko seems unbothered by his characterisation as a ruthless autocrat,

Belarus is set for a presidential election on Sunday, with five candidates on the ballot but no real contest. Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, is expected to secure another five-year term, a result the

Five candidates' names will appear on the ballot for a presidential election in Belarus on Sunday, but for the past 31 years there has only been one winner.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of playing games with the West by drip-feeding releases of political prisoners ahead of an election on Sunday in which he is set to extend his 31-year rule.

Ahead of Saturday’s election in Belarus, there is little doubt that Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s longest-serving leader, will win a new term in office. After the protests that erupted following the 2020 elections,