OREANDA-NEWS. The leader of the Belarusian opposition Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, as well as the authorities of Germany, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declared that they refuse to recognize President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko as the head of the republic.

“This so-called inauguration is, of course, a farce. In fact, today Lukashenko just retired,” Tsikhanouskaya said in a video message posted on Telegram. According to her, all the orders that Lukashenko gives to the security forces are illegitimate. She noted that the inauguration was held “in secret from the people” and called herself the only leader elected by the people.

Slovak Foreign Minister, Ivan Korcok, wrote on Twitter that “Lukashenko has no legitimacy to govern his country,” and called the last presidential election unfree and unfair.

The spokesman of the German government, Steffen Seibert, said that Berlin does not recognize Lukashenko as the president of Belarus even after the inauguration ceremony.