“The System Plays Pranks Like in Late USSR”

• 14.05.2019, 8:49

The dictator's economy is in a submarine position.

Recently, on social networks Belarusians have increasingly reported on food shortages and low-quality goods - and not only food.

Thus, there are reports that after Russia, a dozen of eggs in Belarusian stores has turned into nine. Users of the Belarusian segment of Facebook confirm the low quality of products.

Recently, drivers from Vitsebsk and other cities of Belarus have noted the extremely low quality of gasoline at Belneftekhim filling stations.

The most notable phenomenon was the lack of onion sets, followed by onions from retail networks of Belarus. The onion remains are sold at excessive prices by 2-3 times and, according to buyers, are worth a good piece of meat.

What can these symptoms mean? Viktar Harbachou, a blogger and entrepreneur from Barysau, commented Charter97.org on the situation:

- All this resembles the late Soviet Union, just when it became clear that it was about to collapse.

Do you remember what was going on when the whole system started collapsing? Everything that was not stolen was put on empty shelves and sold. Take it, come on.

"It looks like the authorities do not control the situation, and they neglect quality. You can take whatever you want - we do not know what tomorrow brings or whether there is anything at all...

The prices are rising. It is clear that the economic situation differs from one desired. Therefore, while the quality of goods deteriorates, prices are periodically raised: they look at the reaction of the people. So far, there has been no reaction with the same gasoline, which means that the price growth will continue.

- By the way, what is happening to the quality of gasoline? Why are there so many complaints?

- They simply processed "dirty" oil en masse and put it up for sale. It's no secret that gasoline has become of low-quality at all filling stations, especially at Belarusneft. It's hard to mask something here: cars are filled up and then "sneeze".

- Well, one can put the blame for gasoline on raw materials from Russia. But then why is there lack of essentials? What did happen to onions?

- If one talks to employees of large retail networks - Evroopt, Vitalur - on the quality of products, they will honestly tell us what is happening in our retail networks. They change expiry dates for spoiled products. Employees are made scapegoats and punished. They have to do their best to make it all work.

Unfortunately, our country keeps to the proverb that appeared in the Soviet times: "If you want to be happy, you should keep stealing". It remains relevant for the former Soviet countries, but especially for Belarus.

Everything possible is being stolen, as in the USSR. Salaries are small - we will take out bags of buckwheat. No cameras will help; people will find a way out. Someone will steal buckwheat, someone will drain the fuel - the economic situation itself makes people do it. Not to starve to death and stay more or less afloat.

Fish rots from the head. High officials take bribes of 15, 20, 100, 150 and 200 thousand dollars. People, looking at it, steal whatever they can: eggs, cereals. And it affects the quality. The entire system is failing, as in the late Soviet Union.

- But neighboring countries, including Russia, have recently praised Belarusian products for their quality. What has changed?

- That's right: the best products are exported to Russia so that enterprises could earn foreign currency. My acquaintances working at broiler factories openly say: the worst remains for the Belarusians, good products are shipped to Russia.

It is a paradox: many people go to the border regions of Russia or Ukraine to buy our products there, which are of better quality and cheaper than here.

My friend, an entrepreneur, sells poultry in Lepel. He used to go to the Vitsebsk poultry factory to buy in there. Now it is unprofitable. Now he is going to Smolensk to get products of the Vitebsk poultry factory! There is a wholesale base and it's much more profitable to buy in there - even taking into account the distance. It's 100 km to get to Vitsebsk, and 250 km to Smolensk, but it's much cheaper to bring it from Smolensk!

- Well, it’s a paradox…

- And it is like that in every sphere in our country.

Prices are huge, the quality of products is deteriorating. And the authorities mock at us: "How can you get off a submarine?"

Belarus has turned into a submarine under Lukashenka: everything is used; it seems to work somehow... They added gasoline - it works, but something has broken... It's not a problem: a citizen of Belarus will fix it at his own expense. We'll keep spinning the pedals.

Cucumbers and apples are given - then it turns out that Polish ones are cheaper and better.

This is the theatre of the absurd. Sneezing submarine has turned into the economy under Lukashenka.

- But he doesn't seem to care very much. In his "message to the people and the parliament," Lukashenka said that sport was our ideology. What do you think about it?

- It's not even the late USSR anymore. This is Germany of the 1930s. There, they made sport one of the main shows, held the Olympics, and at the same time fascism spread its influence across Europe. And sports served as an ideology.

And what else can our authorities do? There are no results in the economy. There is only one thing left to do: harvest festivals, shows and sports.

If an athlete is successful a bit - TV sets will show it for three days. Lukashenka will say: I personally played, I personally shook the athlete's hand, I personally gave him an apartment...

We are fine - we can win medals, and you're talking about some onion sets. It's not a big deal. The main thing is to shake hands of an athlete and allocate land for a cottage in Drazdy. In order to show that not only officials but also ordinary people can have houses for their merits.

But it's a trick. People know that this is entertainment for one person, not for the people. There are lots of ice palaces, meanwhile, polyclinics lack tomographs. There are lots of swimming pools, and there is no one to swim there. Because people want to be healthy first, to go to a good polyclinic normal, to eat good food. Sports come later. I'm not against sports, but one needs to set priorities.

- It seems that the authorities have their priorities somewhere outside Belarus. May 9, Lukashenka started talking about Venezuela instead of the situation in the country...

- Yes, I remember: "We cannot be derailed and overthrown, as it happens in Venezuela".

As they say: what the heart thinks the tongue speaks. How can he talk about Venezuela on Victory Day, when many people remember their heroic and tragic family stories? What does chemistry have to do with it?

You may tell about it on May 10, if you want. But on the day of the memorable and tragic events, he keeps persuading "I'm not afraid".

No, we're not afraid of anything. Don't scare me, my friends, my relatives, with Venezuela. The Belarusians have already seen so much for 25 years that any "boogie stories" of Lukashenka are trifles.

It won't work. Lukashenka is trying to calm himself down. The man is scared and calms himself down as well as he can. Let him do it. Everybody already knows that it's about to end. Any screw nut has the right to fail. This system, as one in the late USSR, is about to collapse, as well as Lukashenka himself. Hence the arrest of his former chief bodyguard and other ridiculous things.

Lukashenka and his entourage are afraid. They fear for their cottages, shadow companies, children sent abroad, offshore accounts, gold toilets, private planes and helicopters.

We, ordinary people, have nothing to fear for. We need a normal power in Belarus. We need a normal government to serve the interests of all people, not few people.