The U.S. no longer recognizes Aleksandr Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus, the State Department said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The United States cannot consider Aleksandr Lukashenko the legitimately elected leader of Belarus. The path forward should be a national dialogue leading to the Belarusian people enjoying their right to choose their leaders in a free and fair election under independent observation," U.S. State Department spokesperson said.
The U.S. announcement follows similar statements from European officials, including EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Axios reported.
"The situation is clear for us. We consider the elections of August 9 fraudulent. We don't recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus," Borrell said last week to the European Parliament.
