London does not accept the results of the elections in Belarus, demands an OSCE investigation

Great Britain does not accept the results of the presidential elections in Belarus and intends to punish those responsible for suppressing the demonstrations against the current president Alexander Lukashenko, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said today.

"Great Britain does not accept the results. We urgently need an independent OSCE investigation into the failings that made these elections unfair, as well as an investigation into the terrible repression that followed," said the British Foreign Minister.

Rab pointed out that "Great Britain will work with international partners to sanction those responsible and hold Belarusian officials accountable."

In response to the worsening crisis, the EU on Friday approved sanctions against Belarusian officials for repression and election theft.

London also condemned "the violence resorted to by the Belarusian authorities to quell the peaceful demonstrations that followed the electoral fraud".

The opposition candidate in the presidential elections in Belarus, Svetlana Tihanovska, expressed her readiness to lead the country today, a day after one of the largest opposition protests in the country's history, where tens of thousands of people gathered in Minsk demanding the departure of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Tihanovska condemned mass theft in the elections on August 9, in which, according to official data, she won 10 percent of the vote, and the current head of state 80 percent.

She fled to Lithuania at the beginning of last week because of the pressures she was exposed to.