MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. Decisions made by a number of European countries not to recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus contradict the international law and do not facilitate the development of dialogue between states, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Friday.
"We, of course, do not welcome such decisions, made by a number of European states. We believe that these decisions contradict the international law in general and constitute indirect meddling in internal affairs," the spokesman said.
According to Peskov, "such decisions will definitely slow down and obstruct this states’ dialogue with Belarus." He underscored that, in any case, neither these decisions nor the position that a number of European nations have adopted towards Lukashenko, can influence the current state and the perspectives of the Russian-Belarusian relations in any way.
"Both Russia and Belarus are sovereign countries that build their relations without looking back at other states," the spokesman concluded.
Following Lukashenko’s inauguration, a number of European countries stated that they no longer consider him a legitimate head of state. Prior to this year’s inauguration, Lukashenko led the country in accordance with 2015 elections results; a number of countries and organizations criticized the electoral campaign that time - however, the international community recognized the election results that year.
The Baltic States were the first to denounce the legitimacy of the Belarusian elections. Later, Slovakia and Germany joined them. On September 15, EU High Commissioner of Foreign Affairs and Security policy stated that the Union does not recognize the election results.