Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Russia and Belarus last week has raised new concerns about the involvement of Russia and Belarus in the junta’s planned sham election.

In Belarus, Min Aung Hlaing invited ‘president’ Alexander Lukashenko to send so-called election observers to the junta’s illegal election and Lukashenko accepted the request.

Lukashenko is no supporter of democracy. Since he was elected in 1994, credible international election monitors have observed that elections in Belarus have been neither free nor fair.

The results of the 2020 general election in Belarus were widely disputed, with the opposition claiming to have won 60 percent of the votes. Key opposition members were arrested or went into exile. This was followed by protests across the country  and many condemnations from the international community.

The results of the 2025 general election in Belarus, in which Lukashenko claimed 87 per cent of the votes, were also widely protested, dismissed as a sham and led to sanctions from Western countries against Lukashenko’s regime.

It appears that Lukashenko and the junta have cooperated on elections before – as junta propaganda media claimed that a previous general election in Belarus had been observed by delegates from Myanmar.

During Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to Russia, junta propaganda media also indicated that Russia will support the junta’s illegal election too.

Spokesperson for Defend Myanmar Democracy, Naw Aung, comments: “We call on the international community to recognise the junta’s election for what it is: an attempt to legitimise their illegal attempted power grab.

“The prospect of Lukashenko’s observers coming to Myanmar would amount to a dictatorial regime supporting a criminal military junta in an illegal election.

“Their cooperation is merely an attempt to validate each other’s illegitimate attempts to hold onto power.”

“This mutual endorsement not only mocks the concept of free and fair elections, but also undermines the aspirations of the Myanmar people for genuine democracy.”

“We condemn Lukashenko for assisting the criminal junta. We urge the international community to support the Myanmar people’s struggle for democracy and to reject any sham election engineered by the criminal military junta and its allies.”

“We also stand in solidarity with the people of Belarus in their struggle for democracy,” he concludes.

Further comments and more information:

Naw Aung
Defend Myanmar Democracy
[email protected]

Download press release in English | Myanmar

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