Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election that Western governments rejected as a sham.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he would seek closer cooperation with Belarus after authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko won - as expected - presidential elections on the weekend.

Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Aleksandr Rogozhnik thanked the president of Russia and Russian political parties for supporting Belarus as he met with leader of the parliamentary faction of the New People Party Alexei Nechayev in the State Duma on ,

Vladimir Putin one step closer to taking over a European country this year. Experts say the Russian President is suggesting that a new 2025 Union State Security Concept with Belarus supersedes the original 1999 Security Concept. The Union State is a supranational union of the two countries.

Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994, won re-election Sunday in an election without real competition and slammed by the EU as a “sham”, a state exit poll said.

State-run media in Belarus has reported on an exit poll in the country's presidential election projecting that incumbent Alexander Lukashenko will take 87.6 percent of the vote. The result means suppression of opposition forces is expected to continue.

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MINSK (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was on track to win a seventh five-year term with 87.6% of the vote in Sunday's election, according to an exit poll broadcast on state television.

The smiling face of President Alexander Lukashenko gazed out from campaign posters across Belarus on Sunday as the country held an orchestrated election virtually guaranteed to give the 70-year-old autocrat yet another term on top of his three decades in power.

Belarusians are voting in a closely-managed presidential election that is all but certain to extend the one-man rule of Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994 and Europe’s longest-serving leader.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule with a massive win in a presidential election that Western governments have rejected as a sham, according to preliminary results on Monday.