THE EUROPEAN UNION has denounced Lukashenko’s victory in Belarus as fraudulent:

EU ministers endorsed the damning findings of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s 476-strong observer mission.

The mission’s report found that Mr Lukashenko had “permitted state authority to be used in a manner which did not allow citizens to freely and fairly express their will”.

It said statements by the Belarusan KGB associating the opposition with terrorism and accusing it of planning a coup had led to a “climate of intimidation”. Campaign workers and opposition figures had been subject to “physical assaults, detention and even imprisonment.”

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