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Presidential advisor’s Belarus remark does not reflect Russia’s official stance — Kremlin

In an interview with Forbes, Valentin Yumashev, an unsalaried adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that after Alexander Lukashenko was elected Belarusian president in 1994, "elections had come to an end," and in 26 years, "people snapped and took to the streets"

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. The statement by Valentin Yumashev, an unsalaried adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has nothing to do with the official stance of Russia nor with the stance of the Russian leader, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked whether Yumashev’s opinion corresponds to Putin’s stance, and whether the Russian leader had known about his advisor’s point of view before.

"Both answers are no. This is absolutely unrelated to the point of view of the president and to Russia’s official stance," Peskov clarified.

Earlier, Forbes published an interview with Yumashev, in which he said that after Alexander Lukashenko was elected Belarusian president in 1994, "elections had come to an end," and in 26 years, "people snapped and took to the streets."

Nationwide demonstrations engulfed Belarus following the presidential election held on August 9, 2020. According to the Central Election Commission’s official results, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won by a landslide, garnering 80.10% of the vote. His closest rival in the race, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, came in second, with 10.12% of the ballot. However, she refused to recognize the election’s outcome, and left Belarus for Lithuania. After the results of the exit polls were announced late on August 9, mass protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other Belarusian cities. During the early post-election period, the rallies snowballed into fierce clashes between the protesters and police.