Lukashenko says UK should ‘choke’ on new sanctions

The authoritarian Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has accused his opponents of planning a coup and mocked the Olympic sprinter who fled to Poland.

He also hotly denied his government had anything to do with last week’s death of a leading opposition activist.

In a press conference marking a year since the disputed elections which returned him to power, Mr Lukashenko also denounced British sanctions against his country, describing the UK as “American lapdogs”.