Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of playing games with the West by drip-feeding releases of political prisoners ahead of an election on Sunday in which he is set to extend his 31-year rule.

President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin, has been making signs of reaching out to the West. He is all but certain to win an election on 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.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned another 15 prisoners shortly before the country's presidential election this weekend, state media reported on Friday. The state news agency BelTa reported that the released prisoners include eight who are serving sentences for extremism,

Pope Francis on Thursday urged political, economic and business leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos to keep close oversight of the development of artificial intelligence, warning the technology can exacerbate a growing "crisis of truth".

A close ally of Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko has been nicknamed Europe’s last dictator, and has brutally cracked down on opposition figures and made the country a key staging ground for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Among the many dissident leaders now in exile is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, whose husband remains in prison in Belarus.

DAVOS, Switzerland - Exiled opposition leader ... world you call elections has nothing in common with this event in Belarus. Because it's mostly like a ritual for dictators, when they are ...

NBC News’ Yasmin Vossoughian reports on questions surrounding the legitimacy of the Belarus presidential election as Lukashenko tightens his grip on power.

Representatives of all CIS countries, except Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine, participated in the presidential elections in Belarus as observers. This was announced at a press conference by the head of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) observer mission, Sergey Lebedev, TASS reports.

Canada said on Monday it would impose sanctions on 10 individuals and 12 entities in Belarus, citing what it called "gross and systematic human rights violations" by Minsk.

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.