Moscow, Nov 5 (IANS) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko have reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the allied relations between the two countries, according to the Kremlin.
The Kremlin said that the two leaders spoke on the telephone on Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency
“Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening Russian-Belarusian allied relations,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
“The cooperation in the fight against the spread of coronavirus infection was highly assessed,” it said, adding that they noted the great importance of the agreement on the supply of Russian vaccines to Belarus.
Despite widespread protests that has gripped Belarus since Lukashenko won over 80 per cent of the votes the August 9 presidential election, securing another six years at the helm after being in power for 26 years, Russia recognises the 66-year-old as the legitimate President of the eastern European country.
Since the protests first started, Putin and Lukashenko have held several meetings in an effort to calm the situation.
In the August election, the President’s rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya managed to garner only 10 per cent of the ballots.
She has been in exile in Lithuania since losing the polls.
The mass unresthas seen at least four people killed and hundreds injured.
Besides Tikhanovskaya, opposition figures Olga Kovalkova and Veronika Tsepkalo have also fled the country.
Meanwhile, differing accounts have been reported over the whereabouts of another opposition figure, Maria Kolesnikova.
–IANS
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