Inside the tense exchange: Lukashenko clashes with BBC reporter

Alexander Lukashenko claimed 87.6 percent of the votes in the "presidential elections." Sunday's elections are not recognized as democratic by the Belarusian opposition and the West, echoing similar criticisms from international observers of previous elections.

The "elections" occurred without independent candidates opposing Lukashenko, absent independent media, and amid governmental repression, including targeting the families of opposition members.

After casting his vote independently in the "elections," Lukashenko held a four-hour press conference where questions came from media representatives favorable to his regime, as well as from foreign media.

The BBC correspondent in Moscow, Steve Rosenberg, is well-known to Lukashenko. His questions have often irked the Belarusian dictator in the past. On Sunday, when Rosenberg got a chance to speak, Lukashenko asked him, "What kind of miserable question have you prepared for me?" "Good morning," Rosenberg replied, prompting laughter from the press representatives and the president, who then responded, "Good morning, Steve."

"How can these elections be called democratic when our fiercest opponents and rivals are in prison or in exile?" Rosenberg inquired. "Some are in prison, and some are in exile, but you are here," Lukashenko replied threateningly. "Everyone has the right to choose. This is democratic. Some chose prison, others exile. We didn't force anyone to leave this country; moreover, we opened it," he added. "I've already said five times that we don't hold grudges, we're not spiteful. Everyone will get a chance," he continued.

He then threatened: "I'll be honest with you, Steve, if you broke the law, you wouldn't be sitting here. You probably wouldn't have come here." The journalist calmly returned to his question and referred to Lukashenko's earlier statement. "But you said a few days ago that 'we mustn't silence anyone.' You said that," Rosenberg pointed out.

With each word, Lukashenko grew more furious. "Absolutely not. I won't silence you... I said we will build our country and won't allow anyone to silence us," he explained. "But your main rivals were not only barred from the elections, some of them ended up in prison," Rosenberg responded, noting that there are more than 1,200 political prisoners in Belarusian prisons.

"Wait, we released quite a few," Lukashenko protested. "There used to be 1,200." When Rosenberg replied that "it's still that number," Lukashenko again claimed the number had decreased. "If you subtract more than 200, what do you get? Didn’t you go to school?" Lukashenko scoffed. "I mean, since no one should be silenced, maybe it's time to open the cells and release the political prisoners," Rosenberg said, directly referencing peaceful protestors like Maria Kalesnikava, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for allegedly threatening to overthrow the government, and Sergei Tikhanovsky, a YouTuber who received an 18-year sentence for organizing mass protests.

Increasingly enraged, Lukashenko shouted, "My God!" but promised to answer the question. "Are you talking about silencing or imprisoning people? Silencing is one thing, but prison is for people who opened their mouths too wide and broke the law. That's natural. You ask me anything you want, and I say what I want. Don't exaggerate, Steve," he warned.

"In every country, if you break the law, you have to take responsibility. The law is harsh, but it is still the law. I didn't make this up," added the agitated dictator.