Meeting to discuss social, economic and political situation in Minsk

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko hosted a meeting to discuss social, economic and political situation in Minsk on 20 May.

Before hosting a meeting Aleksandr Lukashenko commented on the military aircraft crash that took place in Baranovichi on 19 May. The head of state and the meeting participants observed a moment of silence to commemorate the pilots that were killed in the plane crash.

“Before moving on to the main topic of our today’s discussion, I want to talk about yesterday’s tragedy that happened in Baranovichi. Our two pilots were killed. After we received preliminary findings of the decoding of the flight recorders, it became clear that what these people did was a feat,” the president said.

He noted that during that training flight various levels of the Yak-130 jet control system almost instantly failed one after another. Nevertheless, the pilots were able to take the jet away from residential areas and to direct it into a single empty piece of land between residential buildings. “The pilots did not eject. As the flight recorders suggest, they fought to the end. It was just that one of them was thrown away by an ejector when the jet hit the ground. They fought to the end, knowing that the time was not on their side. They realized that had the aircraft fallen on residential areas, it would have been a disaster. Two heroic people died,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

He thanked people, citizens of Belarus, who expressed their condolences to the pilot’s families. “I just once again asked the state secretary [State Secretary of the Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich] to get in touch with the families, and offer all kinds of support to them, especially the family of one of the pilots, the major, who had three kids. Therefore, I would ask Natalya Kochanova to make sure that their families are taken good care of. It is necessary to support them, especially the children,” the Belarusian leader said.

“Unfortunately, as you have noticed, there are also ill-wishers. You cannot call them other than scoundrels. Yesterday, our media outlets named some of them; they wrote posts in their social networks. I would ask the KGB chief to get involved and to identify as many of these scoundrels as possible and report back. You should understand, if God forbid, something bad happens in the country, these people will collaborate with the enemy, like during the Great Patriotic War, and will burn and kill, sparing no one. We should know who they are. I am saying this because I want our society to understand that these are scoundrels,” the president said.

Moving on to the main topic, the head of state noted that he invited a wider group of participants to the meeting: initially the meeting was planned with a smaller number of participants. “I believe that the heads of the Minsk district administrations should be present and hear this conversation. Because without them it will be difficult to solve the problems and issues that Minsk is facing and that we need to address. I invited you because my approach to the capital city and its management has been traditionally somewhat different from the approaches to other cities and regions of the country," he said.

“All the processes in Minsk are much faster (they are more pronounced) than anywhere else,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained. “Therefore, we must stay ahead of people’s needs or at least respond to them promptly. If there are any negative things, we need to anticipate them in advance," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The president noted that he does not see such proactive action on all fronts. "I would like to repeat what I said at the Security Council meeting: the time and situation that is developing around us does not give us grounds to let our guards down. Especially in Minsk, or in Minsk only for that matter! All the recent events have been in Minsk," the Belarusian leader said.

First, the president asked about the state of the city's economy and social sector. "I want you, the heads of administrations and the mayor, to understand that all enterprises are your responsibility. If someone thinks that MTZ, MAZ and other large enterprises of national subordination are not your responsibility but that of the minister or the government, you are mistaken. Everything in your district, in the city, is your responsibility. Minsk residents work there. Therefore, you have to find a way to coordinate your work with the national authorities on these and other enterprises," the head of state said.

The president also drew attention to the social sector - Minsk is home to many pensioners, teachers and doctors, cultural and social workers.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that, as the events showed, not all workers of certain industries were up to the mark: "Many, of course, have already understood where they were led and which way they wanted them to go. But it's six months later. But there's many others left. I've just talked about these scums."

The head of state cited the data that in January-April of 2021, the economy of Minsk stopped falling and was back to growth - more than 1.5%. The average salary was good too, almost Br2,000 in March.

Minsk has exceeded the mark of 2 million residents. "We agreed once not to overstretch Minsk. This will be a disservice to future tenants, who come here and want to live here, and especially to current residents. You can see that the city already has traffic jams. But you don't see the gas pollution they are creating in Minsk. I am not mentioning other factors. Therefore, It is impossible to develop Minsk at such a fast pace," the Belarusian leader stressed.

"We need to understand that there will be a problem of workforce - where to use it. That means we will need to build businesses here again. And again, this means more pollutions to the atmosphere in Minsk and around. Moreover, we are drawing people from the farthest corners of the country to Minsk. We will repeat the experience of Moscow,” the president said. “Any another city would earn a thumbs up for building housing, for growing but not Minsk. For Minsk, this is not a trend that we would like to consolidate. Against this background, the number of people employed in the economy is decreasing. You know what these ‘scissors’ lead to."

Another issue, which was outlined by the head of state, was about the social and political situation in the city and the moods of citizens.

"What do people care about the most? What can we do to make sure there is no ground for destabilizing the situation in the country? This is an important issue," the president said.

"A long weekend is over. Summer and a lot of mass events are ahead,” the president noted. "Mass events are a good thing. But they should not be held just for the show, to tick boxes and to report to either the president or the public."

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that any event should be carefully prepared and thought out, "have a certain ideological basis if I you like. But the most important thing about these events is to ensure proper work of services - from utilities to service and those who are responsible for public safety. We should apply a very responsible approach to the places and events that draw a large number of people."

Another set of issues was about the status of the president’s individual instructions which are most relevant for Minsk. "I have already mentioned one - excessive overpopulation of Minsk," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

He specified that he is talking about the implementation of some large investment projects. "I would like to finally hear from the mayor how long we are going to tolerate this Gazprom’s fence in the center of Minsk? They asked to give them a piece of land to build a beautiful building. Where is this building?" the head of state outlined the problem.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also mentioned a number of other problematic projects: "The project of Iran or some other country on Independence Avenue. This avenue is the face not only of Minsk but also of the entire country. How long does it have to be tolerated? We should also come to grips with multiple construction projects in the Rakov Suburb? 

The president also talked about land management, efficiency of housing and utilities. "As the State Control Committee informs, not everything is smooth here," he said.

Addressing Mayor Vladimir Kukharev, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he has worked in the post for some time already: "You have gotten familiar with the old, painful issues that have not been solved until now, the weak and strong sides of the life of the capital. Therefore, I would like to hear the proposals that, you think, will benefit the residents of the city."

"You propose to improve the local self-government. I would like it to be simple and understandable for people, not only for officials who have developed the relevant draft decree of the president," the Belarusian leader stressed.

"You know my position. We need constructive forces in the society, we need forces who seek to implement the state policy in full volume," the Belarusian leader concluded.

He suggested having a frank, honest, principled and, most importantly, effective conversation "to make sure the meeting results in effective solutions.”