Berlin, Germany
Germany on Wednesday said that it does not recognise Alexander Lukashenko as the president of Belarus.
"The minimum requirements for democratic elections were by no means met. They were neither fair nor free. One can therefore not recognise the result of this vote," said Steffen Seibert after Lukashenko took the oath of office at a secret ceremony on Wednesday.
"Even after today's ceremony, Lukashenko cannot evoke democratic legitimacy which would have been the condition for him to be recognised as a legitimate president."
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The spokesman added that "the fact that this ceremony was prepared secretly and carried out away from the public eye is very telling."
The ceremony, which would normally be publicised in advance as a major state occasion, follows a disputed election on August 9 in which Lukashenko, in power since 1994, claimed a landslide victory.
Earlier, more than 100,000 people marched through Minsk on Sunday on the sixth straight weekend of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, keeping up the pressure on the veteran Belarusian leader to quit.
The eastern European country was plunged into turmoil following a presidential election last month that Lukashenko says he won by a landslide, but the opposition says was rigged.