Vladimir Putin congratulates Alexander Lukashenko on victory in presidential election in Belarus

AKIPRESS.COM - President of Russia Vladimir Putin congratulated Alexander Lukashenko on victory in presidential election in Belarus.
Putin noted further development of Russian-Belarusian relations in his letter.
"I hope that your work will assist to further develop mutually beneficial Russian-Belarusian relations in all fields, to deepen cooperation within the Union State, to build integration processes in the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS, as well as military and political ties in the Collective Security Treaty Organization. This process will contribute to the fundamental interests of the Russian and Belarusian people," he said.
According to the Central Election Commission of Belarus, current president Alexander Lukashenko preliminarily gained 80.23% of votes, with voter turnout of 84.23%.
Main opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya gained 9.9% of votes. Then Anna Konopatskaya gained 1.68%, Andrei Dmitriev 1.04%, Sergei Cherechen 1.13%. 6.02% of voters voted against all candidates.