HOW THREE “GIRLS” COULD SAVE BELARUS

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya[1], Veronika Tsepkalo[2] – both forced to flee abroad to protect their children. Maria Kolesnikova, kidnapped in the middle of the street by secret police thugs, in broad daylight, and disappeared without a trace since the morning of 7 September[3]. And their elderly “sister”, the Nobel laureate, Svetlana Aleksievich, left alone, at home, to lead the movement. These are the women who, after two months of unrest, represent the great hope for peace, freedom and redemption of the Belarusian people – a hope entrusted not to the great powers, but to the laws of the United Nations, interpreted in a new and revolutionary way. A hope that needs the attention of all, and the conscious commitment of the governments of democratic countries.

We have all seen the images. Streets full of cheering crowds, but also of fear of police violence. The awareness of having the eyes of the whole world on them. The impression of finally being able to break the chains of a cage that for 30 years has forced them into a ghetto of misery and oppression. The hope that this can happen thanks to self-determination. Because while, a few meters from the border, the three Baltic Republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) were struggling along the path of social, economic and democratic growth, Belarus seemed doomed to remain forever a country poisoned by the chemical industry and by nuclear fall-out, overwhelmed by the blind and male chauvinist brutality of a psychopathic dictator[4].

The fact that dictator Alyaksandr Lukašėnka (from an early age) had serious problems with his mental balance has been documented over the years – we are no longer at the beginning of the history of psychoanalysis, as they were then. where it was possible for the German chemistry and steel industry, united within IG Farben and the consortium sponsored by the giants Metalgesellschaft, Thyssen and Krupp[5], could, thanks to a handful of enthusiastic financiers, led by a former Austrian corporal, also psychopath, establish a cruel dictatorship and force the world to go through the slaughter of Jews in a world war that has claimed tens of millions of deaths[6].

Lukašėnka showed the first signs of paranoia and hallucinations during his military service[7], and one of the doctors who followed him during this time, Dmitry Shchigelsky, defined his condition in his report: “Mosaic psychopathy moderately expressed with predominance of paranoid and dissociative personality disorder traits”[8]. Also, this him the mechanical means of the army are revered, so Lukašėnka has repeatedly stated that he should not be allowed to run for politics, whether male or female, without having done experience the difference between a tank and an armored truck[9].

This is happening in the nation that paid the highest price in human life between 1939 and 1945: one in four citizens[10] – a trauma that persists in the population and which ensures its extremely pacifist and tolerant attitude[11]. So it cannot be a coincidence that, in the enthusiasm of the population shaking Belarus, the people in the streets are ready to challenge death only to shake off the yoke of the monochromatic regime of Lukašėnka and his puppets and initiate a valiant and peaceful revolt – whose words, voices and ideas come from women: a triumvirate formed by a housewife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya[12], a Microsoft manager, Veronika Tsepkalo[13], and a musician, Maria Kolesnikova[14]. Three “girls”, as they are affectionately called[15], leading a movement in which hundreds of other women have become the engines and spirits of one of the most beautiful and desperate battles of our time[16]. They are joined by the heads of the Coordination Council[17] who stayed at home, in particular journalist (and Nobel Prize winner for literature) Svetlana Aleksievich[18] and lawyer Lilija Vlasova[19].

Because behind the dictator’s entrenchment in his castle there is not only mental illness and machismo, but above all a blackmail which, if not unraveled, can lead to a tragedy. It is a battle that, to be won, does not need tanks, the intrigues of diplomacy and the threats of the great powers are not enough. We need a new and different recipe. Finally, ideas and projects from women.

What is Belarus

From left to right: Veronika Tsepkalo, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Maria Kolesnikova and the symbols of their struggle: V for victory, the fist for the emancipation of the proletariat, the heart: we love, we can, we help

Belarus is a little smaller than Romania, a third of Italy, about half of Germany, two-fifths of France[20]: an area without hills higher than 360 meters, which borders 1300 km with Russia and 1100 km with Ukraine, which is almost entirely made up of fields, forests and marshes (86% of the territory) and, unfortunately, which is still poisoned by the effects of Chernobyl. Add to that the indiscriminate use of pesticides and other chemicals that have polluted rivers and the quality of local food products[21]. For these reasons too, less than 10 million people live there (of which 2 million flock to the capital Minsk[22]): a little more than Switzerland, a fifth of Italy, more or less a tenth of France and of Germany[23].

In the years of the Soviet Union, the former predominantly agricultural country was industrialized in stages – industries that were never modernized after 1991 and are therefore inefficient, expensive and harmful to the environment. 30 years of dictatorship have drastically prevented the entry of foreign capital, and Belarus’ political leaders show little interest in the country’s economic and social improvement[24]. A major financial crisis in 2011 was followed by a second in 2014, when the value of the economy fell 40% in five years until the regime was forced (in 2015) to seek help from the UN[25] and an aid program worth more than $ 111 million[26] that was tied to the emergence of a democratic system by 2020[27] – which has yet to happen.

Following this, despite the commitment of the European Union and the Minsk government, in particular to allow British and American investors to make targeted industrial investments that could easily improve the state of poverty of the population, the disaster is in relationship with the program of the United Nations and the European Union that emerged after the false democratic elections of 2020, immeasurably disastrous. Immediately, a very strong perception of the existence of great inequalities, anger, frustration and despair became apparent among the population. Everyone knows that there is no future in the nation where they were born – and that it is difficult to get permission to leave the country[28].

And that is exactly what is happening now: as foreseen in the 2014 agreement, the United Nations blocked the NSSSED-2030 economic development and promotion program[29] and thus propelled Belarus into misery. Lukašėnka has no alternative: his diet depends on food, energy and the sale of domestic industrial products to Russia[30], which buys about 60% of Belarusian industrial production[31], and Putin (as we know) does not like Western interference in Minsk[32].

The blackmail

Belarusian army ready to attack the population

With his back to the wall, Alyaksandr Lukašėnka chooses to blackmail: either you give us the money promised by UNDEF six years ago, leaving me in charge of the country, or I, rather than give up, give up that money and let the people starve[33]. Lukašėnka knows what he is betting on: the UNDEF program[34] called NSSSED-2030[35], celebrated in 2015 as the Great Dream of the population (foresees the doubling of Belarusian GDP in ten years, the introduction of modern waste disposal systems, reclamation of land and rivers polluted by the chemical, agro-industrial and Chernobyl disaster, and the increase in average life expectancy from 58 to 77 years[36] – all financed with money from the International Monetary Fund[37]).

This is the key on which the November 2019 election has already been played, which ended with serious electoral fraud, the use of violence to force people to vote[38], with a result that makes the country ungovernable: the governing parties as well as those of the opposition, remained essentially out of Parliament – 89 of the 110 seats were assigned to independent candidates[39], who presented themselves as opponents and then proved to be puppets in the hands of the dictatorship[40].

In short, Alyaksandr Lukašėnka has been in charge since last November without even a semblance of a democratic system. The West, after the presidential elections in August, reacted (as usual) very timidly, limiting itself to expressing a vague “concern“[41], just as the population, in Minsk, was desperately taking to the streets[42], risking their lives because of the repression by the Lukašėnka army[43].

For his part, Putin is trying to keep his feet on either side. On the one hand, he attacks the Belarusian regime and claims that Lukašėnka betrayed his people[44], on the other hand, he is extremely hesitant: he despises Lukašėnka (at least since the Belarusian dictator brought three suitcases full of potatoes to Putin as a gift[45]), but knows full well that the conditions that prevailed in Ukraine at the time of the fake civil war[46] no longer exist: in Minsk, no part of the population insists on returning to the heart of Mother Russia – a military invasion would worsen the international situation[47]. On the other hand, Putin, as is his custom, hates any indecision and threatens the European Union, the United States and the United Nations with any interference in the internal affairs of Belarus[48], which gives the impression that Minsk does not lie if Lukašėnka (provocative) announces that the Russian president will be ready to storm to his aid[49].

Within the country, there are no counterweights, not only of a political nature, but not even of an economic nature[50]. The only real employer is the State, which pays very little, but prevents there from being a problematic percentage of unemployed – and this is one of the reasons why factory strikes do not result in a general and national strike against the government: the workers are afraid that, if the liberal wing of the movement (of which the “Girls” are the symbol, but not the organized nucleus) wins, foreign multinationals will arrive and many people will lose their jobs and the social guarantees that currently exist – better than nothing, it is logical[51]. Added to this is the fact that there is no feeling of antipathy or hatred towards the Russian people, who are (rightly) perceived as a brother[52].

85% of the national territory, in which only two-fifths of the citizens live, is not in the hands of the farmers, but of the Agricultural Production Cooperatives (LPG), all owned by the State[53]. Just with the entry into force of the NSSSED-2030, just over 2,000 family-run farms were born which, since the marketing of the products is in the hands of the state, do not reach commercial self-sufficiency[54]. And so, although the extension of the cereal fields is the largest in Europe, and Belarus is among the ten largest potato producers in the world, the products are not even enough to feed the domestic market[55].

The same applies to a large part of the industry, almost all in the hands of State Production Units (Kombinat)[56], if we exclude the mechanical industry which, since the entry into force of NSSSED-2030 has largely passed into the hands of multinational companies of the European Union[57]. On the one hand, the fear of foreign capital, on the other the side of the opposition (the veteran Communist[58]) that reproaches the “Girls” for not having pushed for a real popular revolution, with Molotov cocktails, barricades and martyrs, risk being the point breakdown of the movement[59] – what could lead to failure, if the regime stops using blind violence and kidnapping women so loved by the population that the general level of indignation is kept very high.

The entrepreneurial web of the country

Minsk Hi-Tech Park buildings, designed by Valery Tsepkalo

As it had been for the Soviet Union and its satellite states, this choice was never of an economic nature, but of a political nature, and has the aim of allowing a very rigid and ideological pricing policy as well as preventing the birth and the development of the middle class[60]. The privatizations granted by the government took place following the 2011 crisis and under the pressure of the UNDEF[61]. The big Belarusian capitalists, who grew up in the shadow of the regime anyway, mostly live elsewhere, and do not want to meddle in the political squabbles in Minsk.

They are little known names to the general public: Alexander Moshensky[62], Alexei Oleksin[63] and Alexander Zaitsev[64]. Except for the first one who comes from a family that has managed to be successful with their own means, the others are part of the Lukašėnka Court and have enriched themselves thanks to tenders and government gifts[65]. They were then chosen when the regime was forced, by UNDEF, to proceed with a privatization that was impossible without the state: in 2011, the wealth in the hands of individuals was, even more than today, negligible[66].

In addition, there is a disease typical of the former Soviet regime and of the economies of the countries which adhere to the Warsaw Pact[67]: the industry produces according to a multi-year plan and independently of the balance between supply and demand, between costs and benefits, so that the entire Belarusian industry collapsed in 2011 due to the age of models, excessive costs and, above all, overproduction[68]. This industrial policy led to a crisis in the government’s decision-making capacity[69], to a rapid decline in hard currency stocks[70] and therefore to a necessary and gradual devaluation of the national currency[71] (from 2009 to 2015[72]), which in turn plunges the population into poverty and the balance of payments with abroad, especially in the energy and agri-food sector, leads to a collapse[73] – with a possible and obvious consequence: Lukašėnka needed either a substantial funding from the West[74], or from interested donations from Russia[75]. He chose both paths at the same time and reached the dead end in which Belarus finds itself today. You cannot win capitalism if you deny all the rules of capitalism.

There is one exception: The Hi-Tech Park in Minsk (PVT), a non-customs zone[76], a tax haven of less than 2 km², in which (as of July 2020) were 880 telecommunications and electronics companies[77], including the identity is “confidential” and which remains an island completely separate from the rest of the city and the country[78]. Although Lukašėnka speaks of the PVT as the flagship of a Belarus ready to challenge the world, little is known about the real turnover of the companies that have set up in the Hi-Tech Park and the real activities they carry out[79]. Anyway, between 2017 and 2019, Belarus’ IT services exports almost tripled, reaching $ 2 billion[80].

In 2019, technology companies provided Belarus with nearly 50% of GDP growth: their share in GDP is 6.1% (in Russia, for example, less than 1%)[81]. One of the reasons why Valery Tsepkalo, the husband of one of the three “Girls“, Veronica, who had been the author of the Hi-Tech-Park project in 2005, now considers it as a monstrosity and a sign of the madness of the regime[82]. But from the PVT come the independent entrepreneurs who have truly been able to create a miracle out of thin air, and who do not hide: Arkady Dobkin[83], Viktor Kisly[84], Viktor Prokopenya[85], Dmitry Shelengovsky[86], Alexander Minets[87], Lyubov Pashkovskaya[88], they are highly successful entrepreneurs and who they guarantee unsupported jobs, but a real prospect for young Belarusian graduates.

BelAZ, the sick giant

A huge BelAZ truck

BelAZ (Belarusian Autoworks) is the country’s largest industry, employs more than 10,000 people and produces the world’s largest trucks – trucks with a load capacity of up to 450 tons[89], of which 130,000 units have been sold in the world to date[90]. The factory was built in 1948 according to the five-year plan of the Soviet economy from 1946 to 1950 and is located in Žodzina, 50 km northeast of Minsk[91]. Its mechanical systems, in particular the air-hydraulic suspensions, have been at the absolute forefront since 1970, so much so that BelAZ produces the best “mining trucks” on the planet[92].

In 2014, this company, which has always been Belarusian pride (it is 100% state-owned), was on the verge of bankruptcy[93]. The reasons were simple: the state has no money to invest, the machines were outdated and too expensive, international competition had overtaken them, and moreover, due to poor conditions on the assembly line, trucks sometimes fell apart during presentations to potential clients[94]; The Russians, who bought more than two-thirds of the trucks, entered a crisis and chose cheaper and more modern trucks, especially trucks made in Russia by joint ventures with market giants (Volvo, John Deere, etc.) and were assembled there[95].

The domestic market was also at a standstill due to the continued devaluation of the national currency, and attempts were made to establish some kind of productive and financial international cooperation (there were negotiations with China[96], but above all a clear offer of the Iranians by Samand[97]). Lukašėnka’s autocratic decisions were thwarted by annoying claims for reasons known only to him that Iranian cars were trash[98], banned them from operating in 2016[99], and even a Ford factory that was supposed to work with BelAZ and the market. marketing of cars produced in Belarus should open has closed[100]. Now Iran Khodro has made a new offer for Unison (the factory built by Ford in Belarus) and BelAZ[101], and despite the embargo, UNDEF is pushing for Lukašėnka to accept this time[102]. The BelAZ bailout just came with NSSSED 2030 money, and now it looks to be improving[103], especially as Western money has been spent to modernize the assembly line and introduce new products[104].

The attempted fraud against Belaruskali

The caliber mountains produced by Belaruskali

The other Belarusian industrial giant is Belaruskali, the world’s largest potash plant and fertilizer refinery (it produces around 20% of the world’s agricultural potash[105]), located in Soligorsk, an industrial area in the south of the country that employs more than 20,000 people[106]. A giant that was converted from a collective production unit (a combine harvester of the Belneftekhim conglomerate[107]) into a joint stock company on September 27, 2010, following instructions from the NSSSED-2030 by government order[108].

In 2014, it was sold by the Ministry of Energy to the Ministry of Industry for the symbolic sum of one ruble – what Lukašėnka calls privatization[109]: 1,717,690 ordinary shares with a fixed value of 3,476,000 Belarusian rubles – a share capital which according to national law should not be paid in is simply politically determined and therefore purely fictitious: these shares are worth $ 1.3 million each, which corresponds to a total value – completely ridiculous and utopian – of 5 970,690,440,000 rubles ($ 2247 billion!) – which makes impossible a purchase by other shareholders[110]. Belaruskali is and will forever remain the property of the Belarusian state, apart from a political earthquake[111].

The reason is obvious: Belarus derives colossal revenues from fertilizers and, despite some problems, does not fear foreign competition[112]. In view of the ruthless pricing policy (based on the Soviet model), Belaruskali’s income is therefore used to pay for obsolete and unsold productions of ghost companies, to pay the salaries of employees of these companies and perhaps to collect money for a particularly unscrupulous government leader, if not just for Lukašėnka’s hobbies[113].

At the worst time of the Belarusian ruble devaluation crisis, in 2015, only Belaruskali, with its hard currency gains, kept the country’s economy alive. This company still represents 50% of the public administration budget of the capital and the surrounding region[114]. This money is made by marketing potassium in over 100 countries around the world through BPC Belarusian Potash Company[115]. This trading company, founded in 2014 after the transformation of Belaruskali into a public limited company, originally had three shareholders[116]: Belaruskali (45%), the Belarusian Railways Company (5%) and Uralkali[117] (50%), a giant Soviet company of Berezniki (Perm Oblast), halfway between Moscow and Siberia – a city in which 100 years of potash mining has ruined the territory so much that it has led to continued structural failure: the city of 150,000 residents are slowly and irrevocably sinking into the abyss of mud, a legacy of the unnecessary five-year plans of Soviet industrialization[118].

The leaders of Uralskali understood that their factories would soon close permanently and that the Belaruskali company would allow them to continue to exist and sell potassium even after the death of the factory and their city. But they had calculated without Lukašėnka. When the latter saw that part of Belaruskali’s revenue was going to Russia via BPC, and the Urals partner wanted to force the company to draw up real balance sheets and stop funding the deceased companies, Lukašėnka did two things: he started selling kali outside the agreements and issued Decree 566 of 22 December 2012[119], which gave him the right to ignore contracts with Uralkali, a decision he justified by a 19.2% drop in sales in the world market[120].

The United States, still the biggest competitor of the associated giants of the PCB, took the opportunity to impose sanctions on Belarusian potassium, saying it is harmful to the environment[121]. At the same time, Uralkali broke the contract and stopped selling Belarusian potassium[122], which led to an immediate crisis in the world market[123]. Lukašėnka’s reaction was immediate: he arrested the President of the Uralskali[124], Vladislav Baumgertner, and accused him of being mad[125] and of stealing from the cash register[126]. Without Uralkali Belaruskali’s sales are doomed to a dramatic decline – but the anger is now resolved[127] and Lukašėnka could have to pay a fine for unilateral breach of contract[128]. Since then, BPC’s shares have been split between Belaruskali (48%), Belarusian Railways (42%) and Eximgarant (10%), a state insurance company (100%)[129]. Another privatization to Lukašėnka’s taste.

In the meantime, out of necessity, the dictator has found a formula according to his will to find commercial support for the immense production capacities of Soligorsk: The Chinese industrial group Migao has created a new joint venture in the territory of Belaruskali, the production of the giant Belarusian uses it to produce potassium nitrate – a compound that Minsk had never before offered to the international market. OOO Belkali-Migao can only process potassium from Belarus[130] and has his own refinery in Soligorsk, in which at least half of the employees must be local workers[131]. This measure was ordered by Lukašėnka, who feared a drastic reduction in the number of workers[132].

In this way, Belaruskali remains the cornerstone on which the whole system of power and blackmail of the Lukašėnka regime is based. According to official data, Belaruskali produces 20% of the world’s potassium fertilizer[133]. The world market has a value of 44 million tons[134], or 20% a value of 8.8 million tons. The average price in the wholesale market is $ 395 per ton[135], which means that Belaruskali’s annual production – for which there is no official budget (so we are forced to calculate in this way), should be the annual figure of almost 3.5 billion dollars, not counting many other by-products of Belarusian production[136].

In addition to these already impressive figures, there are deposits of 247.5 million tons of potassium which are sold outside the official market[137]: we are talking about 97.8 billion dollars which are officially in stock and which are not in stock. actually not counted when sold. Belarus’ total gross domestic product did not reach $ 180 billion in 2018…[138] These data are sufficient for a simple consideration: if this business stops, Belarus will collapse. Unsurprisingly, the “girls” movement persuaded the 20,000 workers in Belaruskali to go on strike on August 18[139]. A strike to which the regime reacted first with patience and then with threats[140]. But it is also a hesitant, disorganized and non-politicized strike: the police are asked to stop torturing and arresting – not to leave[141].

Propaganda skirmishes and the regime’s evil face

Alexander Tarakhovsky, the first artist and intellectual murdered by Lukašėnka police during the first street unrest in Minsk after the start of the protests on August 10, 2020

What will happen now? According to journalistic sources, regime police have arrested and tortured nearly 7,000 people; the army threatened to attack the strikers who control the closed factory doors; Lukašėnka claimed to have Vladimir Putin’s approval of Russian military intervention to support his dictatorship[142]; Putin has avoided confirming this, but he hopes that even after a possible overthrow of the dictatorship, he can work fruitfully with the coordinating council organized by the “girls“[143]. At the same time, Putin never misses the opportunity to threaten the European Union by telling Brussels not to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus[144] and by stacking his tanks on the border with Belarus on the grounds that he is afraid of radicalized elements and extremists[145].

Meanwhile, Russian public opinion is almost entirely on the side of the Belarusian people, so at the end of August 2020, thousands of teachers, students, administrators and security guards from the Moscow University have filed a public petition to cancel the appointment of Lukašėnka as an honorary professor, which has been decided a few years ago – a petition which, of course, produced no results, but only gave a signal to the Moscow regime[146].

In the meantime, rumors that do not seem very credible are circulating about the sending of trainers of the Qatari army to train the secret police of Lukašėnka[147]. The Belarusian dictator and the Doha ruling family have a long-term relationship that was sealed in 2012 with the donation of a forest near Minsk to the Al Thani family[148]. In July 2020, well before the start of the road riots in Minsk, one of the chiefs of the Qatari army, General Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah, visited Minsk as part of a multi-year agreement for the supply weapons and weapons, as well as instructors for the Belarusian army[149]. The new arrival from Qatar said that the only flights from Doha to Minsk carried humanitarian aid for the population: doctors, pharmaceuticals, food[150]. According to the Belarusian Embassy in Doha, the hypothesis of the existence of Qatari military teachers working with Minsk is exactly the opposite: it is Lukašėnka who sends his officers to Doha to get used to the new weapons that the regime wants to buy in Qatar[151].

On the other side of the fence, as usual, with the exception of Angela Merkel, the other Member States of the European Union reacted opportunistically and very weakly: they threatened sanctions, they did not. have not imposed, they have embezzled € 53 million in economic aid, but they have not reacted to the positioning of Lukašėnka’s troops on our borders – in particular the most sensitive ones like that of Lithuania, where many leaders are hiding street demonstrations[152]. Meanwhile, Lukašėnka threatens Lithuania with economic sanctions (Belarus is the country’s largest trading partner) and continues to use its tanks at its borders[153]. From September 4, 2020, the Americans responded by deploying their armored divisions on the border between the Baltic republics and Belarus[154]. In short, both Lukašėnka and the leaders of the surrounding nations are once again using the troops as pressure and blackmail in a game where Belarusian citizens are the only ones to lose, no matter what.

Many of them who are wanted by the police seek protection in parishes as the Catholic and Orthodox churches are openly against the regime and in recent days, many pastors appear to be threatened with harassment, arrest and torture[155]. The three “girls” first hide abroad, in Lithuania or in Poland[156], and prepare for a long fight – they realized that it would not be enough to ask Lukašėnkas to resign because he has the brute force. which takes time to resist and holds Russia and the European Union in check. They are currently working on a political platform announcing the imminent formation of a party called “Together”[157], which will serve to involve supporters of the Popular Movement Coordination Council in the elections and other formal initiatives provided for in the Belarusian constitution[158].

Alyaksandr Lukašėnka is cornered. He tried to announce possible reforms, but no one believed him[159]. The only way to stay in power is to use brute force and hope that no one from abroad decides to step in to help the citizens oppressed by violence. Its blackmail is simple and effective. To the West, he says: If they impose economic sanctions on us, we will continue to work with China, Iran and Russia, and if anyone suffers, it will be the citizens who will believe in your help because these sanctions do not ‘weaken not the regime, but the demonstrators[160]. He said to the Russians: if they don’t help us, we will turn to the European Union, which has a great desire to do business in Belarus[161]. Additionally, Putin leads a nation that, like Belarus[162], is pandemic exhausted, although he claims in Moscow[163] and Lukašėnka in Minsk[164] that Covid-19 is a propaganda move from the West. A typical example of a “Mexican stand-off”[165].

A possible program to overcome blackmail

We love, we can, we show solidarity: the slogans of the “girls” election campaign

It takes more to successfully counter this strategy. Simple, wonderful, courageous and exciting libertarian protest will not be enough. But the Coordinating Council already knows this. Veronika Tsepkalo explained the strategy on which they, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Maria Kolesnikova, will try to turn into a political proposal[166]: “We must first stop funding Lukašėnka and lend to his government. Some of that money goes into his personal expenses: he has 17 apartments, private planes, buys a Maybach limousine for a million euros, and drives a very expensive Tesla through town. He is incomparably richer than most citizens. The national median salary is less than $ 500 per month (…) Lukašėnka also uses these resources to rig elections, for example by paying around 10,000 people to collect signatures in his favor. It garnered around two million votes, but it is very clear that (…) 80% of our companies are state-owned, and each of them has an ideological office like in the days of the Soviet Union. Employees are invited to sign for Lukašėnka and vote for him in the elections, otherwise they will be prosecuted”[167].

In Poland, thanks to the mediation of Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, she and her husband Valery negotiate the creation of a fund financed by Poland and the United States to initially support the strikers and those who will lose their jobs. because of the unrest[168]. The author of this article intends to intervene to sensitize certain parliamentarians of the European Union, in the hope that even Brussels will finally wake up from its terrible torpor and do something to guarantee peace and freedom at its borders and to give hope to Belarusians, in which the EU is helping to finance this fund.

The next step decided by “Together” is innovative, courageous and, if carried out, would give new hope to the populations of different countries exposed to a blackmail similar to Lukašėnka: the regime plays the card of financial collapse to force the hungry , but if that does not happen, Lukašėnka himself will be exhausted in a relatively short time – internationally marginalized, he will have his own corrupt bureaucracy, the police, the army, dead companies, but also functioning companies like BelAZ and Belaruskali, can no longer support economically or structurally. The model proposed by the Coordinating Council, chaired by the three “girls“, is to propose a gigantic takeover of the entire productive economy hitherto remained under the control of the State, creating a large base of shareholders owned by this support fund is brought, after which it is converted into a trust company[169].

Belarusian society does not suffer from a shortage of middle managers, competent and prepared young people, possible managers and specialists in industrial production, innovative development of mechanics, modern technologies and financial management, because the level of education in the country is very high[170]. With the dynamic force that arises from the desire for freedom, a second fund is financed, financed by FAO and UNEP (United Nations Environment Program[171]), to rehabilitate the Belarusian territory only through the chemical industry and effects was poisoned by Chernobyl. It’s already much more than a project that only exists on paper[172].

UNEP held a conference in Minsk in 1997 to present an ambitious project proposed by the Ministry of Financial Development that would have covered the cost of land reclamation by employing local workers[173] – another opportunity offered by Lukašėnka and who he refused. Part of the project is still officially about to start, with direct support from UNEP headquarters in Geneva, for which Belarus has never done anything – never submitted any reclamation projects, has never requested financial support for it, has never designated UNEP as a coalition partner for the environment and climate change[174].

In 2017[175], UNEP leadership traveled to Minsk to offer a study on redevelopment issues and opportunities – a study that has already cost $ 250,000 and has been paid for and led by Switzerland and Sweden[176] – and to an already advanced planning stage in the EU was unveiled in 2019 – but was not even considered for a second by the Belarusian government after more than 50 local businessmen and politicians attended the conference in the hope something could finally change. It will be further developed in accordance with UNEP’s intentions, from the first version of Minsk to a final version, accompanied by a three-year project[177] on technical implementation, expenditure and financing[178].

Meanwhile, the “girls” had another brilliant and innovative idea: on September 4, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya participated in an official conference call on Belarus held at the UN Security Council[179]. Here she called on the United Nations to send an official mission to investigate the violations of human rights and the attitude towards international agreements of the Lukašėnka regime[180]. What is new is that Tikhanovskaya will now file an official request under Articles 73 and 74, which provide for military intervention by peacekeepers in geographic areas where the population is not in the for reasons beyond their control. the will of the citizens. Is able to self-regulate and have a democratically elected government[181].

The thesis of the Coordination Council is that Lukašėnka does not represent the Belarusian people, but is the leader of an invading army[182]. A thesis which, in order to succeed, must not only have the approval of the NATO countries, but also avoid the veto of Russia and China[183]. But this is yet another new thesis that could create the conditions for similar conflicts, even in other parts of the world ravaged by gang wars – as in Sierra Leone[184] in the past or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo[185] today.

If the European Union, United States and Russia really cared about the fate of 10 million Belarusians held hostage by a psychopathic dictator unable to administer the power he wielded, they would not have to impose sanctions that are waste and propaganda. It would be enough if, despite Lukašėnka and his acolytes, they support the transition from an ugly and ridiculous version of the Soviet planned economy to a modern system that does not conform to any geopolitical ideology, but only for the good of the country and those who live on it.

This article is the first part of a report on the political situation in Belarus. To read the second, click on the following link: https://ibiworld.eu/en/the-suffering-of-the-abandoned-belarus-does-not-surrender-to-the-tyrant/

[1] On 20 July 2020, after threats of arrest by the authorities, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya took her son (10) and daughter (4) to Lithuania (on EU territory) – https://lenta.ru/news/2020/07/20/vyvezla/, https://udf.by/news/politic/215714-detej-svetlany-tihanovskoj-vyvezli-iz-belarusi-v-evrosojuz.html, https://news.tut.by/economics/693420.html

[2] She and her husband, Valery Tsepkalo, have 7-year-old male twins (https://www.the-village.me/village/city/city-interview/283777-veronika-cepkalo). Fled to Russia after the vote (https://news.tut.by/society/694192.html ; https://telegraf.by/politika/veronika-cepkalo-rasskazala-pochemu-ee-muzh-i-deti-uehali -v-rossiju /), in August 2020 Veronika Tsepkalo tried to move to Ukraine, but she and her two children were stopped at the border, so she reached Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in Lithuania and now it seems she is in Kiev (https://news.tut.by/economics/696863.html ; https://twitter.com/dw_russian/status/1296760344447197184).

[3] https://www.thedailybeast.com/abduction-of-maria-kolesnikova-the-woman-leading-the-belarus-revolution-is-classic-kgb-terror-ploy ; https://www.ilpost.it/2020/09/07/maria-kolesnikova-scomparsa-rapimento-arresto/ ; https://www.haveeru.com.mv/maria-kolesnikova-belarusian-opposition-three-main-members-kidnapped-in-minsk/ ; https://www.thejournal.ie/belarus-opposition-figure-kidnapped-5198049-Sep2020/

[4] Grigory Ioffe, “Reassessing Lukašėnka: Belarus in cultural and geopolitical context”, Palgrave MacMillan, New York 2014, pages 156-184 – see https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2F9781137436757.pdf

[5] Henry Ashby Turner, “Die Großunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers“, Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1985; Klaus Sator, „Großkapital im Faschismus: dargestellt am Beispiel der IG-Farben“, Marxismus Aktuell, Frankfurt 1978; Joseph Borkin, „Die unheilige Allianz der IG Farben: eine Interessengemeinschaft im Dritten Reich“, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt 1979

[6] Hermann Schmitz, the son of a proletarian family from Essen (Ruhr), had – starting from 1906, when he was only 25 years old – an extraordinary career in the Metallgesellschaft group of Frankfurt, and was then chosen by Prime Minister Walter Rathenau as head of the division procurement of raw materials in the Ministry of War during the First World War. After this experience he decided that Germany should unite all its industry and finance in a single group, and convinced all the great industrialists and financiers of the time to found a super holding, IG Farben, to concentrate all economic forces in few private banks (especially Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank), then to choose a small political party (the choice fell on the NSDAP of Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring), to support it with a private bank (the Deutsche Länderbank, of which Hitler was the largest shareholder) and a private mining and industrial holding (Reichswerke Herrmann Göring). The rise of Nazism, the financial and industrial concentration in IG-Farben, as well as the choice of militant anti-Semitism and the decision to unleash a new war are the themes dealt with by Hermann Schmitz in his 1931 essay, “Deutschlands einzige Rettung“, which describes the plan of the 15 years between that time and the invasion of Poland – Hermann Schmitz, “Deutschlands einzige Rettung”, HaDek Verlag, Hannover 1931, https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=showFullRecord&currentResultId=%22hermann%22+and+%22schmitz%22+sortBy+jhr%2Fsort.ascending%26any&currentPosition=115

[7] https://www.mk.ru/editions/daily/article/2001/01/16/114132-lukashenko-postavili-diagnoz-mozaichnaya-psihopatiya.html

[8] https://en.newizv.ru/article/general/19-08-2020/psychiatrist-lukashenko-like-stalin-suffers-from-a-paranoid-personality-disorder ; https://charter97.org/ru/news/2020/6/17/382703/ ; https://ru.espreso.tv/news/2020/06/20/s_dyagnozom_lukashenko_lyudy_uzhe_ne_menyayutsya_psykhyatr

[9] https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/07/17/86308-vremya-zhenschin

[10] Waitman Wade Beor, “Marching into darkness: The Wehrmacht and the Holocaust in Belarus”, Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2014; https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/div-classtitleexternal-resources-and-indiscriminate-violencediv/2711403798AAB0A84CE5CEA425472F73 ; https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=10335986@cmsArticle

[11] https://belarusdigest.com/story/the-myth-of-belarusian-tolerance/

[12] Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was born on 11 September 1982 in the Brest region, graduated in foreign languages at the University of Mozyr in the Gomel region (https://file.liga.net/persons/tihanovskaya-svetlana). She worked in Gomel as an interpreter for various NGOs, including Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline (Ireland), which helps the victims of the nuclear accident (https://www.ccll.org.uk/about_us ; https://file.liga.net/persons/tihanovskaya-svetlana). She married Sergei Tikhanovsky – TV author, entrepreneur, blogger with over 305,000 followers (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFPC7r3tWWXWzUIROLx46mg ; https://officelife.media/news/17492-sergei-tikhanovski-what- is-known-about-his-businesses/) and political prisoner (https://news.tut.by/economics/686791.html ; https://naviny.by/new/20200609/1591697119-pravozashchitnik-est-vse-osnovaniya-dlya-priznaniya-figurantov-dela ; https://eurasia.amnesty.org/2020/06/29/amnesty-international-priznala-uznikami-sovesti-belorusskih-politikov-sergeya-tihanovskogo-viktora-i-eduarda -babariko/). On May 15, 2020, after the Central Electoral Commission refused to register her husband Sergei as a candidate (and later arrested him), Svetlana took his place and ran for president (https://news.tut.by/elections/685295.html ; https://news.tut.by/elections/684787.html (https://lenta.ru/news/2020/07/20/vyvezla/, https://udf.by/news/politic/215714-detej-svetlany-tihanovskoj-vyvezli-iz-belarusi-v-evrosojuz.html, https://news.tut.by/economics/693420.html).

[13] Veronika Tsepkalo was born on September 7, 1981 in Mogilev. She lost her mother at 19 (cancer) while under arrest, accused of participating in the murder of the Head of the Executive Committee of the Mogilev Region (https://www.the-village.me/village/city/city-interview/283777-veronika-cepkalo). She graduated in 1998 in International Relations from the Belarusian State University, and then continued her studies at the Higher School of Management and Business in Minsk and then at the National Institute of Small and Medium Enterprises in Hyderabad, India. For 10 years she has been the head of development for the whole of the former Soviet Union for Microsoft (https://www.the-village.me/village/city/city-interview/283777-veronika-cepkalo). She is married to Valeriy Vilyamovich Tsepkalo: diplomat and entrepreneur, former Ambassador to the United States of America (February 1997 – April 2002, https://tsepkalo.by/biography/).

[14] Maria Kolesnikova was born on April 24, 1982 in Minsk; Graduated from the Minsk Academy, she is a famous musicians all over Europe, mainly in Germany (https://34mag.net/piarshak/post/kalesnikava/p/23 ; https://news.tut.by/society/693402.html ; https://officelife.media/article/colleagues-say/19781-mariya-kolesnikova-biografiya/ ; http://www.belmarket.by/kak-zavod-prevratilsya-v-kulturnyy-centr). Since August 2019 she has been the artistic director of the OK16 cultural center in Minsk, opened in the former Soviet factory Belgazprombank – a center for years headed by the famous intellectual Viktor Babariko. The Center is an “incubator” of cultural projects, lofts are rented and lent to experiment, the center attracts thousands of young people (http://www.belmarket.by/kak-zavod-prevratilsya-v-kulturnyy-centr). In May 2020 Babariko unexpectedly resigned and decided to run for president. Maria Kolesnikova has since entered politics as the head of Babariko’s headquarters and has entered the scene after her arrest (https://news.tut.by/elections/684205.html ; https://news.tut.by/society/693402.html). Then she became one of the leaders of the Kolesnikova / Tikhanovskaya / Tsepkalo political alliance. Later she joined the Coordination Council, made up of 70 people (including Nobel Prize for Literature Svetlana Aleksievich, President of the “Vesna” Ales Bialiatski Center for Human Rights, as well as numerous journalists, businessmen and personalities of Belarus

(https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/07/17/86308-vremya-zhenschin ; https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/9231073).

[15] https://www.instagram.com/p/CDoJR4DBjLx/?utm_source=ig_embed ; https://www.instagram.com/p/CD1J-PyH49F/ ; https://daily.afisha.ru/relationship/16677-vlast-nedoocenila-silu-zhenskogo-duha-kak-beloruski-stali-dvigatelem-protesta-v-strane/ ; https://daily.afisha.ru/relationship/16612-lyubim-mozham-peramozham-zhiteli-belarusi-o-protestah-vyborah-i-policeyskom-proizvole/

[16] https://daily.afisha.ru/relationship/16677-vlast-nedoocenila-silu-zhenskogo-duha-kak-beloruski-stali-dvigatelem-protesta-v-strane/

[17] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53780685 ; https://www.eastjournal.net/archives/108976 ; https://tvrain.ru/news/v_organizovannom_tihanovskoj_koordinatsionnom_sovete_po_peredache_vlasti_nazvali_datu_pervoj_vstrechi-514522/

[18] https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34475251 ; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-prize-literature/belarussian-writer-wins-nobel-prize-denounces-russia-over-ukraine-idUSKCN0S21AQ20151008

[19] https://web.archive.org/web/20200827004856/https://en.mediation-eurasia.pro/mediator/lilija-vlasova/ ; https://telewizjarepublika.pl/do-rady-koordynacyjnej-bialoruskiej-opozycji-weszlo-juz-600-osob,100419.html

[20] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/279rank.html#BO

[21] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bo.html

[22] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/350.html#BO

[23] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/335.html#BO

[24] “As part of the former Soviet Union, Belarus had a relatively well-developed industrial base, but it is now outdated, inefficient, and dependent on subsidized Russian energy and preferential access to Russian markets. The country’s agricultural base is largely dependent on government subsidies. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, an initial burst of economic reforms included privatization of state enterprises, creation of private property rights, and the acceptance of private entrepreneurship, but by 1994 the reform effort dissipated. About 80% of industry remains in state hands, and foreign investment has virtually disappeared. Several businesses have been renationalized. State-owned entities account for 70-75% of GDP, and state banks make up 75% of the banking sector. Economic output declined for several years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, but revived in the mid-2000s. Belarus has only small reserves of crude oil and imports crude oil and natural gas from Russia at subsidized, below market, prices. Belarus derives export revenue by refining Russian crude and selling it at market prices. Russia and Belarus have had serious disagreements over prices and quantities for Russian energy. Beginning in early 2016, Russia claimed Belarus began accumulating debt – reaching $740 million by April 2017 – for paying below the agreed price for Russian natural gas and Russia cut back its export of crude oil as a result of the debt. In April 2017, Belarus agreed to pay its gas debt and Russia restored the flow of crude. New non-Russian foreign investment has been limited in recent years, largely because of an unfavorable financial climate. In 2011, a financial crisis led to a nearly three-fold devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. The Belarusian economy has continued to struggle under the weight of high external debt servicing payments and a trade deficit. In mid-December 2014, the devaluation of the Russian ruble triggered a near 40% devaluation of the Belarusian ruble. Belarus’s economy stagnated between 2012 and 2016, widening productivity and income gaps between Belarus and neighboring countries. Budget revenues dropped because of falling global prices on key Belarusian export commodities. Since 2015, the Belarusian government has tightened its macro-economic policies, allowed more flexibility to its exchange rate, taken some steps towards price liberalization, and reduced subsidized government lending to state-owned enterprises. Belarus returned to modest growth in 2017, largely driven by improvement of external conditions and Belarus issued sovereign debt for the first time since 2011, which provided the country with badly-needed liquidity, and issued $600 million worth of Eurobonds in February 2018, predominantly to US and British investors” – see https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/207.html#BO.

[25] https://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/Belarus_DPDCPBLR3_UNDAF.pdf

[26] https://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/Belarus_DPDCPBLR3_UNDAF.pdf, page 27

[27] https://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/Belarus_DPDCPBLR3_UNDAF.pdf, page 12

[28] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/207.html#BO.

[29] “National Strategy for Sustainable Socio-Economic Development in the Republic of Belarus until 2030” – see https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/ceci/documents/2016/CECI/Presentations/Olga_Meerovskaya_Belarus.pdf

[30] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Foreign-direct-investments-in-Belarus-2012_fig1_255910553 ; https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-share-of-petroleum-products-in-total-Belarusian-exports-2005-2011_tbl2_255910553

[31] https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Main-trading-partners-of-Belarus-in-2012_tbl1_255910553

[32] http://globalcomment.com/what-is-russias-endgame-in-belarus/

[33] https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/belarus-dictatorship-alexander-lukashenko

[34] United Nations Democracy Fund – https://www.un.org/democracyfund/

[35] https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/Report_GE-Scorecard_Belarus_final.pdf, page 5 and page 19

[36] https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/ceci/documents/2016/CECI/Presentations/Olga_Meerovskaya_Belarus.pdf, pages 8-9

[37] http://www.economy.gov.by/ru/

[38] https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/belarus/70603/statement-spokesperson-parliamentary-elections-belarus_en ; https://www.state.gov/belarus-parliamentary-elections/

[39] http://rec.gov.by/ru/vybory-2019?qt-election_2019=9#qt-election_2019

[40] https://apnews.com/b64ad02c670b44388fbfc4b4e302886d

[41] https://www.eppgroup.eu/newsroom/news/we-call-for-new-and-free-elections-in-belarus ; https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26162&LangID=E ; https://www.osce.org/chairmanship/460384 ; https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/08/1069852 ; https://globalnews.ca/news/7279329/pope-francis-belarus-protests/

[42] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53796989

[43] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53762995

[44] https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/08/10/the-people-have-been-insulted-russia-reacts-to-belarus-presidential-vote-unrest-a71098

[45] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/why-vladimir-putin-is-unlikely-to-invade-belarus/

[46] https://www.glistatigenerali.com/geopolitica/non-e-una-nuova-ucraina/ ; https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/why-vladimir-putin-is-unlikely-to-invade-belarus/

[47] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/why-vladimir-putin-is-unlikely-to-invade-belarus/

[48] https://www.ft.com/content/f96fdf91-6826-4af2-923d-ff14947fcd15 ; https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-has-no-good-options-as-belarus-crisis-surges/30789859.html ; https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-putin-no-clear-options-can-afford-waiting-2020-8?IR=T ; https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/16/europe/putin-lukashenko-belarus-analysis-intl/index.html

[49] https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/08/16/belarus-leader-says-putin-offers-help-as-pressure-builds-a71160

[50] https://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/author/volodymyr-ishchenko/ ; https://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/contradictions-post-soviet-ukraine-failure-ukraine-new-left/

[51] https://www.glistatigenerali.com/geopolitica/lopposizione-in-bielorussia-non-e-tutta-dalla-stessa-parte/ ;

[52] https://www.glistatigenerali.com/geopolitica/non-e-una-nuova-ucraina/

[53] https://www.kleffmann.com/en/kleffmann-group/news–press/press-releases/belarus-agriculture-market-overview/

[54] https://www.kleffmann.com/en/kleffmann-group/news–press/press-releases/belarus-agriculture-market-overview/

[55] https://www.kleffmann.com/en/kleffmann-group/news–press/press-releases/belarus-agriculture-market-overview/

[56] https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/belarus-alexander-lukaschenkos-schwindendes-geschaeftsmodell-a-0bfac8e5-b9ec-4aac-98bd-70851bce16a8 ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Belarus

[57] https://www.a1.group/de/group/weissrussland

[58] https://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/contradictions-post-soviet-ukraine-failure-ukraine-new-left/

[59] https://www.glistatigenerali.com/geopolitica/lopposizione-in-bielorussia-non-e-tutta-dalla-stessa-parte/ ; https://www.glistatigenerali.com/geopolitica/non-e-una-nuova-ucraina/

[60] https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/417694/d8126eef72c5b4965c0328e89f7721b8/WD-5-054-07-pdf-data.pdf

[61] https://investinbelarus.by/de/

[62] Alexander Moshensky is the first in the rankings of Belarusian entrepreneurs since 1992. Born 50 years ago in Brest, he leads the company (holy Impex OOO Brest) founded in 1993 by his father, Mikhail Moshensky, who died in 2000: This group is active in food distribution, in transport and logistics services in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, it owns a chain of restaurants, the Chalet Greenwood tourist complex on the White Lake, a fishing company, vegetables, ice cream, drinks, semi-finished meat products, and in addition, Santa Bremor (logistics, Russia), Santa Breeze (Moldova). Santa Ukraine, an agri-food laboratory in the Kamenets district and several other small companies in the same sector, as well as an impressive real estate portfolio (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/alexandr-moshenskiy.html ; https://www.21.by/businessman/moshenskij.html ; https://www.santabremor.com/company/ ; https://news.tut.by/economics/389873.html).

[63] Alexei Oleksin is a man of Lukašėnka, to whom the regime has entrusted the monopoly of cigarettes (Energo-Oil, owned by his wife Inna and the State company Belneftegaz, https://udf.by/news/sobytie/166149-6-faktov- o-nepublichnom-biznesmene-kotoromu-lukashenko-doveril-torgovlyu-cigaretami.html ; https://udf.by/news/economic/197876-horoshij-biznes-na-durakah-i-debilah.html). Former head of the energy resources and petroleum products department of Belvneshtorginvest, which belongs to the Presidency of Belarus, from 1 June 2018 Energo-Oil exclusively sells Philip Morris products, obtaining the license by presidential decree instead of the state company Belarustorg (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/alexey-olexin.html , https://news.tut.by/economics/594678.html). Oleksin’s main activities are: trading of petroleum products, cigarettes (Tabakerka), meat processing (Veles-Meat), hotels and restaurants (Syabry), banks (owns 98.97% of MTBank through MTB Investments Holdings Ltd. Limassol: 2018 turnover BYN 1.1 billion – approximately $ 550 million, https://news.tut.by/economics/594678.html , https://kyky.org/news/u-vladeltsa-vseh-tabakerok-v-belarusi-nashli-elitnoe-zhilie-ryadom-s-lebezhim-skolko-ono-stoit ; https://udf.by/news/economic/197876-horoshij-biznes-na-durakah-i-debilah.html), logistics (Bremino Group, https://news.tut.by/economics/556529.html , https://news.tut.by/economics/594678.html), plus other businesses that he and Inna run in Riga (biofuels, beer, supermarkets: Mamas D is among the top 500 companies in Latvia with a turnover of around 30 million euros, https://udf.by/news/sobytie/166149-6-faktov-o-nepublichnom-biznesmene-kotoromu-lukashenko-doveril-torgovlyu-cigaretami.html , https://udf.by/news/economic/197876-horoshij-biznes-na-durakah-i-debilah.html ; https://ej.by/rating/business2019/alexey-olexin.html). Together with the president’s son, Viktor Lukašėnka, and the son of the Russian Attorney General Artyom Chaika, Oleksin organizes motorcyclist rallies – organizations often linked to neo-Nazism – and the company that organizes the rallies, the Moto Event, is based in the offices of Oleksin

(https://news.tut.by/economics/608311.html ; https://www.intex-press.by/2019/05/13/viktor-lukashenko-s-belorusskimi-biznesmenami-priehal-v-voronezh-na-otkrytie-motosezona-foto/).

[64] Alexander Zaitsev is a partner of Alexei Oleksin and Nikolai Vorobey in the Bremino Group. In 2018 he created AZ Fertilizer (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/alexandr-zaytsev.html). Lukašėnka’s former assistant for national security, a great friend of the President’s eldest son (https://by.tribuna.com/tribuna/blogs/editors/2607046.html). In addition to being a partner of Bremino, he owns the Sohra Group, the Berestovitsa and Bruzgi logistics companies and recently completed a $ 220 million project to create a special economic zone near Orsha. Sohra Overseas Ltd is registered in the UAE and sells Belarusian machinery, building materials and food products in the Gulf countries (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/alexandr-zaytsev.html). Zaitsev himself has been residing in Dubai for 10 years, and also has commercial interests in Africa in gold mining (Sohra Mining Dubai), in Sudan and in Ghana (RMG Mining and Bar.Bra Mining, https://by.tribuna.com/tribuna/blogs/editors/2607046.html).

[65] https://news.tut.by/economics/638603.html

[66] http://www.eesc.lt/uploads/news/id399/Bell%207%20(7)%20(2009).pdf ; https://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/contradictions-post-soviet-ukraine-failure-ukraine-new-left/ ; https://www.glistatigenerali.com/geopolitica/non-e-una-nuova-ucraina/

[67] Dietmar Petzina, „Die Verantwortung des Staates für die Wirtschaft“, Bochumer Schriften zur Unternehmens- und Industriegeschichte“, Band 8, Klartext Verlag, Essen 2000 – https://www.klartext-verlag.de/zusatzangebote/978-3-88474-869-5.pdf

[68] “По состоянию на 2013 год , белорусская промышленность была нанесена с тяжелым перепроизводством : его непроданные товары запасы оцениваются на сумме не менее $ 3,8 млрд в том числе 20000 непроданных белорусских тракторов” (Since 2013, the Belarusian industry has been plagued by severe overproduction: its inventory of assets still in storage is estimated at at least $ 3.8 billion, including 20,000 unsold “Belarus” tractors) – see https://ru.qwe.wiki/wiki/Economy_of_Belarus#Energy

[69] https://www.resetdoc.org/it/story/bielorussia-crisi-economica-e-crisi-politica-camminano-a-braccetto/

[70] https://www.resetdoc.org/it/story/bielorussia-crisi-economica-e-crisi-politica-camminano-a-braccetto/

[71] http://www.eurasianbusinnessdispatch.com/ita/archivio/La-crisi-del-Rublo-e-la-svalutazione-delle-valute-centroasiatiche-di-Dario-Delbo-74-ITA.asp

[72] https://www.finanzaonline.com/forum/arena-club/1305486-bielorussia-svaluta-la-propria-moneta-del-50-1-giorno.html

[73] https://it.euronews.com/2011/06/14/proteste-in-bielorussia-contro-i-blocchi-all-export

[74] https://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/Belarus_DPDCPBLR3_UNDAF.pdf

[75] https://greenreport.it/_archivio2011/index.php?page=default&id=11369

[76] Its residents are exempt from all corporate taxes, both income tax (18%) and VAT (20%), have a special Pension Fund, employees pay income tax at a reduced rate (9% instead 13%), companies have the right to hire foreign citizens (https://www.forbes.ru/tehnologii/407869-ne-hotim-platit-nalogi-na-kotorye-zakupayut-granaty-dlya-omona-pochemu-it-kompanii)

[77] https://www.forbes.ru/tehnologii/407869-ne-hotim-platit-nalogi-na-kotorye-zakupayut-granaty-dlya-omona-pochemu-it-kompanii

[78] https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/07/minsk-s-hi-tech-park-a-symbol-of-growing-inequality-in-lukashenko-s-belarus

[79] https://www.rferl.org/a/another-casualty-of-the-brutal-belarus-crackdown-minsk-s-thriving-it-sector-/30782256.html ; https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-minsk-tiger-lukashenko-s-high-tech-ambitions-for-belarus-a-668405.html

[80] https://thebell.io/ajtishniki-protiv-lukashenko-pochemu-vosstali-samye-blagopoluchnye-belorusy

[81] https://thebell.io/ajtishniki-protiv-lukashenko-pochemu-vosstali-samye-blagopoluchnye-belorusy

[82] https://pledgetimes.com/search-begins-in-the-house-of-the-fugitive-leader-of-the-belarusian-opposition/

[83] Arkady Dobkin is the second richest man in Belarus, CEO of EPAM Systems Group (https://www.epam.com/) of Newtown, Pennsylvania (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/world /europe/belarus-minsk-technology.html). He started in Minsk, working as a programmer for a state-owned company (https://www.epam.com/about/who-we-are/leadership/board-of-directors/arkadiy-dobkin). In 1991 he emigrated to the US, where he worked for Prudential, Colgate and SAP Labs. Later he founded EPAM (https://www.epam.com/about/who-we-are/leadership/board-of-directors/arkadiy-dobkin), whose headquarter is in Minsk (https://www.belrynok.by/2020/08/12/arkadij-dobkin-vsya-rukovodyashhaya-komanda-epam-pristalno-sledit-za-razvitiem-situatsii-i-mgnovenno- reagiruet-na-nee/), where more than 6000 technicians work (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/world/europe/belarus-minsk-technology.html), in NY there’ an office for the listing on Wall Street (https://www.forbes.ru/tehnologii/407869-ne-hotim-platit-nalogi-na-kotorye-zakupayut-granaty-dlya-omona-pochemu-it-kompanii).

[84] Viktor Kisly, born on August 3, 1976 in Minsk, founder (1998, https://gazetaby.com/post/kak-viktor-kislyj-perestal-byt-belorusom/121044/), co-owner (he his father Vladimir own 70%, https://ej.by/rating/business2018/kisly.html) and CEO of Wargaming.net, one of the largest video game developers in the world (such as “World of Tanks”, http://gotominsk.wargaming.com/ru/about/#!vacancy=undefined ; https://ej.by/rating/business2019/kisly.html ; https://gazetaby.com/post/kak-viktor-kislyj-perestal-byt-belorusom/121044/) – and employs over 4000 people (http://gotominsk.wargaming.com/ru/about/our-locations/# , https://wargaming.com/ru/about/). In 2011, the company’s headquarters moved to Cyprus (together with the Kisly family), but Minsk remains the main office (https://gazetaby.com/post/kak-viktor-kislyj-perestal-byt-belorusom/121044/). In 2012 Viktor Kisly, Wilbur Ross, Daniel Lab and Viktor Vekselberg, became allied in order to rescue the Cypriot banks from the financial collapse (https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/19/11/2014/546c8a0dcbb20f379f985640 ; https://itc.ua/news/sozdatel-world-tanks-viktor-kislyiy-stal-dollarovyim-milliarderom/ ;). So Wargaming now controls 17% of Hellenic Bank (the second largest bank in Cyprus), and Kisly is the CEO of its holding (https://ej.by/rating/business2018/kisly.html). In October 2016, the Nicosia Chamber of Commerce awarded Wargaming Group an award for its contribution to the development of the capital – not only for the banks, but also for the restoration of Demosthenes Severi Avenue, where the Wargaming headquarters are 75mt. high (acquired in 2013 for 20 million €, https://gazetaby.com/post/kak-viktor-kislyj-perestal-byt-belorusom/121044/).

[85] Viktor Prokopenya, born in Minsk in 1983, lives in London. He has seven undergraduate or higher education degrees (https://24smi.org/celebrity/4691-viktor-prokopenia.html). In 2001 he created the software company Viaden Media, which was then sold to Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi (https://probusiness.io/strategy/3146-chem-zanimaetsya-it-predprinimatel-viktor-prokopenya-k-kotoromu-segodnya-prikhodil -prezident.html), and founded the investment companies VP Capital Ltd. Limassol and VP Capital OOO Minsk (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/prokopenia.html). He is the author of the Belarusian decree on the digital economy (https://meduza.io/feature/2017/12/23/aytishnyy-gonkong-dlya-slavyanskogo-mira). Awarded by the British Parliament (https://www.strategeast.org/strategeast-presented-the-legal-westernization-award-to-technology-entrepreneur-and-venture-investor-viktor-prokopenya/), between 2016 and 2017 is the largest Belarusian tax payer (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/prokopenia.html ; https://finance.tut.by/news593883.html). In December 2016, Viktor Prokopenya and Larnabel Enterprises of Said Gutseriev launched joint artificial intelligence (AI) projects, including Astro Digital, a team that develops both satellites and real-time monitoring of the Earth’s surface, based at NASA Ames Aerospace Research Center in California

(https://probusiness.io/strategy/3146-chem-zanimaetsya-it-predprinimatel-viktor-prokopenya-k-kotoromu-segodnya-prikhodil-prezident.html https://ej.by/rating/business2019/prokopenia.html).

[86] Dmitry Shelengovsky is very young (35 years old), and is a partner of Viktor Prokopenya and Vadim Nekhai in Banuba Development and Camera First – two start-ups that develop augmented reality video games for mobile devices (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/dmitriy-shelengovskiy.html). Shelengovsky’s company, Playgendary Development of Minsk (with branches in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Lvov, and even in Munich, where Shelengovsky lives), in 2018 became one of the three largest mobile game publishers in the United States. Between January and October 2018, its applications from the App Store and Google Play exceeded 350 million downloads (https://dev.by/news/plagendary-350mln).

[87] Alexander Minets (born 1984) is the co-founder and Technical Director of Gismart Group, the leading company of mobile music applications (Gismart Minsk, Gismart Marketing, Minsk and Gismart Ltd London – where, for 4 years, Minets has lived, https://42.tut.by/671263). In 2019 it formed a strategic alliance with Appodeal; Gismart and Appodeal have launched a joint app and game publishing program, and the alliance’s products have been downloaded over 150 million in 2019, over 500 million times since the founding of Gismart, which now has over 300 employees (https://ej.by/rating/business2019/alexandr-minets.html).

[88] Lyubov Pashkovskaya is (according to “Forbes”, https://officelife.media/news/the-ceo-of-the-belarusian-it-company-got-into-the-forbes/) one of the most important entrepreneurs of hi-tech of the world. She began her career in Viktor Propopenya’s Viaden. In 2013, with two Viaden technicians (Igor Yudin and Natalya Bakhar) created Red Rock Apps, which makes apps in the health and fitness sector (https://42.tut.by/651164 , https://dev.by/news/verv). Since 2018, when it changed its name to Verv, it became a world leader in the segment: it is downloaded more than Fitbit or Nike. The company’s annual turnover is $ 30 million (https://officelife.media/news/the-ceo-of-the-belarusian-it-company-got-into-the-forbes/).

[89] https://web.archive.org/web/20131110022852/ ; http://landofancestors.com/news/302-belaz-produced-the-worlds-largest-dump-truck-with-450-tons-load-capacity.html

[90] https://www.belarus.by/rel_image/383

[91] http://www.belazia.sg/uploads/userfiles/files/history_EN.pdf

[92] https://steelguru.com/steel/belaz-truck-to-hold-first-belarusian-ipo/258005

[93] https://web.archive.org/web/20160215161652/ ; http://belarusdigest.com/story/belarusian-machine-building-once-nations-pride-now-burden-21081

[94] https://web.archive.org/web/20160215161652/ ; http://belarusdigest.com/story/belarusian-machine-building-once-nations-pride-now-burden-21081

[95] https://web.archive.org/web/20160215161652/ ; http://belarusdigest.com/story/belarusian-machine-building-once-nations-pride-now-burden-21081

[96] https://www.automotivelogistics.media/geely-joint-venture-opens-biggest-car-plant-in-belarus/19755.article

[97] http://zhitkovichi.gov.by/special/en/republic-en/view/ambassador-abdolhamid-fekri-iran-to-implement-several-large-scale-projects-in-belarus-922/

[98] http://iran-times.com/belarus-says-irans-samand-car-is-junk/

[99] https://web.archive.org/web/20160215161652/ ; http://belarusdigest.com/story/belarusian-machine-building-once-nations-pride-now-burden-21081

[100] https://naviny.belsat.eu/en/news/iran-wants-to-buy-belaz-trucks-and-belarusian-electric-buses/