The European Union rejected the election in Belarus on Sunday as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions.Belarus held an orchestrated vote virtually guaranteed to give 70-year-old autocratic President Alexander Lukashenko yet another term on top of his three decades in power.

Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko extended his more than three decades in power in an orchestrated weekend election that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a farce.

"All necessary conditions and a calm environment were created for the voters, so that they could cast their votes without any coercion,” Maksim Ryzhenkov said.

After 15 years have passed but the EU’s reaction has remained as hostile as ever, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said.

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 Western governments rejected as a sham.

Belarus “unilaterally” freed an American woman, Anastassia Nuhfer, from detention, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko is all but certain to extend his more than three decades in power in Sunday’s election that is rejected by the opposition as a farce after years of sweeping repressions.

The autocrat Alexander Lukashenko won 87.6% of the vote according to an official exit poll. The exiled opposition called for the result not to be recognized.

Some 13,000 border guards and soldiers protect around 400 kilometers (250 miles) of border. It’s become a buffer zone since Belarus’ ally, Russia, invaded neighboring Ukraine three years ago. Similar fortifications farther north line Poland’s frontier with the Russian region of Kaliningrad.

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Ukraine risks losing half of its foreign military aid due to a cutoff of US funding; Syria and Russia discuss aid and the future of Moscow's military bases in the region; and Trump's team prioritizes strengthening ties with the Global South. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

The European Union (EU) has issued a strong warning to Russia, saying it might impose tough sanctions if Russia continues its hostile actions in space. This comes after increasing concerns about the safety of the EU’s satellites and industries.