VLADIMIR Putin’s best pal has “won” a sham election with 87 per cent of the vote and is now set to host the Russian dictator’s “unstoppable” new missiles.

Victory “demonstrates your high political authority,” the Kremlin chief gushes about his counterpart in Minsk.

By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) -Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election Western governments rejected as a sham.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko for winning a seventh term in office, saying Sunday's election showed he had the undoubted backing of the people.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, claims to have won a landslide victory in an election already being denounced across the Western world as a “sham”.

By Mark Trevelyan (Reuters) -Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election that Western governments rejected as a sham.

Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya labeled Lukashenko’s successful reelection as “sheer nonsense.” Before Sunday’s vote, she had encouraged voters to cross out every candidate’s name on the ballot.

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