Reactions to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko's widely expected landslide re-election — and subsequent violent protests — have been varied, with the West condemning the government's large-scale police crackdown on opposition forces and journalists while Russia takes a more supportive stance. Particularly notable is the Belarusian government's accusation that the West aided these protests. The divergence of these reactions, especially Russia's overwhelming support for Lukashenko, indicates that tensions between Moscow and Minsk over the past year have been more theatrical than substantive. The two countries are likely to only strengthen ties. When it became clear early in the election that Lukashenko would receive another term, the opposition called the vote rigged and rallied midday and throughout the evening Dec. 18 in Minsk's central square. More people than expected attended the rally — reports ranged from 20,000-40,000 — with some participants scuffling with Belarusian authorities. Plainclothes KGB forces cracked down heavily, arresting more than 1,000 protesters after they attempted to storm a downtown Minsk government building. By the morning of Dec. 20, seven of Lukashenko's nine opponents in the election were in custody, with one of the leading candidates, Vladimir Neklajew, hospitalized after being beaten by security forces. Western governments widely condemned these actions, particularly Poland, Sweden and Germany, which had offered Lukashenko financial aid and cooperation if the vote was held freely and without intervention by security forces. Both Poland's and Sweden's foreign ministries expressed concern over the crackdowns and urged Belarus to reveal more information behind the attacks on opposition forces, and Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski called on the European Union to re-examine its relationship via the Eastern Partnership toward Belarus. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called the crackdown "unacceptable" and said Germany would closely monitor the results of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's review of the election, which subsequently found the election to have serious flaws. The U.S. Embassy in Minsk, meanwhile, said Washington deplored the "extreme force" that was used by Belarusian authorities. The Russian reaction to the election paints an entirely different picture. Sergei Lebedev, mission chief for the Commonwealth of Independent States' election-monitoring team, said the electoral process was open, free and fair and that he had no doubt about the legitimacy of the vote. Lebedev also said the subsequent unrest and detention of opposition forces should not at all factor into the monitoring team's assessment. Meanwhile, State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Pavel Borodin accused the United States of aiding in organizing the opposition, claiming, "Everything is coming from beyond the ocean." Borodin blamed the United States for providing alcohol to protesters to fuel their fervor, a statement in line with the Belarusian Interior Ministry's claim that a majority of the detained protesters were intoxicated. This supports STRATFOR's suspicion that Western, rather than simply local, forces would be blamed by Belarusian authorities for inciting the riots. Russia and Belarus had been engaged in a series of disputes in the months preceding the election, prompting many to predict there was a serious rupture impending between the two states. But just one week before the election, the two countries reached a comprehensive customs union and energy tariff deal, in a sign that relations had been repaired between Minsk and Moscow — at least to the point of Russia implicitly backing Lukashenko's re-election. To the chagrin of the West, Russia's support of Lukashenko's political legitimacy and restraint from criticizing the security crackdowns indicates that Russia and Belarus have not had a major falling out. While there is sure to be more political theater and instances of confrontational rhetoric between the two, Moscow's interests and levers into Minsk are firm, and cooperation will likely only increase between the states into the future.