After breaking away from a crumbling Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Belarus became increasingly aligned with Russia, unlike its neighbors. That bond strengthened as Russia waged its war against Ukraine.

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.

Ukraine is calling on its partners to impose sanctions against Belarusian defense industry enterprises that help Russia fulfill its state defense order and thus kill Ukrainians. — Ukrinform.

Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov said in an interview with the Russian Izvestia newspaper.

Belarus “unilaterally” freed an American woman, Anastassia Nuhfer, from detention, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday.

Alexander Lukashenko, Europe’s longest-serving leader, has extended his 31-year rule in Belarus after being declared the winner of a presidential election that his exiled opponents and Western countries have denounced as a sham.

With many of his political opponents either jailed or exiled abroad, Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed “Europe’s last dictator,” is all but certain to add a seventh term.

Belarusians are voting in a closely-managed presidential election that is all but certain to extend the one-man rule of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and Europe’s longest-serving leader.

Near a border checkpoint between Belarus and Ukraine, anti-tank spikes and concrete pyramids block what was once a bustling road between two peaceful neighbours.

In Belarus, strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko has been in power for more than 30 years. Over the weekend, Lukashenko participated in his seventh election claiming to have won decisively. The Belarusian opposition in exile,

Oil flows through Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga appeared to pause, backing up Kyiv’s claims of a successful drone strike on a pumping station.