MINSK, August 21. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has a shared understanding of the situation in the country with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, as Lukashenko himself said during a visit to the Dzerzhinsky agricultural facility outside the country’s capital of Minsk on Friday.
"I have warned the Russian president of the situation in Belarus. We enjoy mutual understanding, we have a relevant agreement within the SCTO [the Collective Security Treaty Organization] and the Union State," Lukashenko said, as cited by the BelTA news agency.
He pointed out that "the Belarusian issue is no less important for Russia than it is for Belarus." "It is Russia that is under attack in the first place. But they want to destroy us, too. However, they will fail, we will offer resistance," Lukashenko added.
Belarus held a presidential election on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko received 80.1% of the vote, his main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya garnered 10.12%. Protests erupted in the country's capital of Minsk and several other cities following the presidential vote, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers. Tikhanovskaya refused to recognize the election’s results and left for Lithuania.
