Belarus protesters gather as President Alexander Lukashenko rejects calls to rerun vote
ABCBelarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has vehemently rejected any possibility of holding a rerun of a questionable election that gave him a sixth term in a landslide, despite pressure from massive protests. Key points: A large crowd has come out to support Mr Lukashenko ahead of a speech in a public square He has claimed Western powers are meddling in the sovereignty of Belarus Anti-government protests started after officials said Mr Lukashenko won a sixth term with about 80 per cent of the vote Mr Lukashenko spoke to a group of supporters who had rallied near the main Government building in Minsk on Sunday. Russia, former Soviet states look at providing support Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to send unspecified security assistance to the former Soviet republic if Mr Lukashenko asked for it. As Mr Lukashenko invoked fears of Western military designs on Belarus, the Collective Treaty Security Organization, a military alliance of six former Soviet states including Belarus, said it would make a decision about providing assistance if requested by Belarus. Yet Belarus's declining economy and Mr Lukashenko's dismissal of the coronavirus pandemic as "psychosis" are among the factors that have galvanised the largest and most sustained protests the country has ever seen.