MINSK, August 10. /TASS/. The Internet in Belarus is turned off "from abroad," the national authorities are not taking steps to cut it off, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday.

"Someone is itching to do something and is calling to take to streets. They are even cutting off the Internet from abroad to incite unrest among the population. Our specialists are now studying where this block is coming from. That’s why it’s not our initiative if the Internet is not working, it’s coming from abroad," BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.

On Sunday, a number of websites operated by Belarusian media outlets as well as state bodies were not working properly. Some portals are still reporting issues on Monday. Beltelecom, the leading telecommunications company in the country, said it is currently working on fixing the issues caused by numerous cyber attacks.

According to preliminary results of Sunday’s voting in the presidential election released by the Central Election Commission on Monday, Lukashenko won 80.23% of votes. His closest rival, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, had 9.9% of ballots. The other three candidates managed to win less than two percent each.

After exit poll results were revealed late on August 9, many cities and towns across the country saw mass protests that in some cases turned into clashes with the police. The national Interior Ministry said 3,000 had been detained while dozens of police officers and protesters were injured.