Britain on Monday imposed sanctions targeting Belarusian officials and defence companies after joining Western governments in condemning what they called "sham" presidential elections in the country.

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. “Today’s sham election in Belarus has been neither free,

No credible opponents were allowed to run against Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since the 1990s.