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Crisis in Belarus

OSCE should have sent its observers to Belarusian elections - Lavrov

According to Russian Foreign Minister, the OSCE refused to send observers to Belarus saying the invitation had been received in violation of time limits

SOLNECHNOGORSK /Moscow region/, August 23. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should have accepted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s invitation to send observers to the presidential elections in Belarus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday.

According to Lavrov, the OSCE refused to send observers to Belarus saying the invitation had been received in violation of time limits.

"With no observers the West brands as independent present, it would be very difficult to persuade anyone that the results of the presidential polls were exactly converse to those that were announced," he said at a nationwide youth forum Territory of Senses. "It is impossible to prove that President Lukashenko lost these elections without accepting his invitation. This possibility was ignored. I think they should not have done that. It was a big mistake."

He noted that observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the CIS Parliamentary Assembly and some of the CIS nations had reported "no serious violations capable of impacting the elections outcome."

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov Belarus Alexander Lukashenko

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