Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that police had only arrested "two or three" presidential candidates in Sunday's riots.
Thousands of Belarusians were brutally dispersed in clashes with police late on Sunday when opposition protestors tried to storm the parliament after preliminary results showed strongman Alexander Lukashenko had won his fourth consecutive term as president.
"Police were forced to take proper measures and arrested the organizers [of the protest.] But I think there were only two or three [candidates] among them, not eight or nine," Lukashenko told the Euronews TV station, which earlier reported that seven of the nine opposition candidates had been arrested.
Lukashenko told the station that the presidents of Kazakhstan and Venezuela had already called him to congratulate him on winning the presidential post, which he has held since 1994.
When asked if the Russian president had also congratulated him on his victory, Lukashenko meekly replied that he had not had a chance to check his email today.
MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti)
