What Lukashenko Forgot To Mention

• 14.07.2026, 9:29

The dictator was evasive during his trip to the Shklov District.

Those who ended their week in Alexandria began the week with a work trip to the Shklov District. There, in his hometown, the renovation of the “complex of repair workshop buildings” had just been completed. So Lukashenko toured the brand-new hangars and spoke on current issues. In short: there’s a labor shortage, migrants from Uzbekistan are needed, and heating must be done with pellets and firewood, writes planbmedia.io.

A Model Example

Lukashenko noted that district agricultural service centers, such as the one in Shklov, need to service all types of equipment, not just domestic models. Accordingly, they need to have a stock of necessary spare parts, a well-established workflow, and, of course, “reasonable service prices.”

“Prices must be under the control of at least the district executive committee chair. Prices must not result in a loss,” said Lukashenko. There you have it—a weak business incentive. After all, “not a loss” does not mean “profitable.”

He acknowledged that the Shklov project is, for now, just another example of “how it should be done,” carried out using resources from his Administrative Department and the entire country. The next step is simple: to replicate this “gift to the district” on a national scale.

And at the same time—to secure the necessary personnel. Lukashenko stated that it is important to begin the mass harvest by addressing two main tasks: ensuring the equipment is ready and having competent machine operators. “I think there should be at least one operator per combine harvester, or even two,” he demanded.

“For each combine harvester, the last name, first name, and patronymic of the operators,” assured Minister of Agriculture Yuri Gorlov.

“The same goes for forage harvesters and tractors. Powerful machinery must be operated by competent people. And even that machinery (less powerful)—it’s not simple. But that’s the main thing,” Lukashenko insisted.

Uzbekistan-Belarus, with regards

He also touched on the topic of attracting migrant workers to Belarus, acknowledging that he had recently discussed it with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Lukashenko assured that Belarus is ready to hire citizens of that country.

He said that certain regions are particularly interested in this to meet their staffing needs. “A decision has been made to develop a system and invite people from there to come to our country. Ukrainians have left, and many Russians are coming to work here. We’ve just held talks with Shavkat Mirziyoyev. There’s a problem with employment in Uzbekistan. I made him an offer. We have a system: the embassy makes an initial assessment of who is eligible and who isn’t. Then the employer must determine how many people they need and in which specialties. And they choose for themselves,” he said.

Lukashenko is confident that people from Uzbekistan are happy to come to Belarus to work. “In the near future, a whole group—about 200 people—is ready to come here. For now, they’re headed to the Vitebsk Region, because there’s a general shortage of people there. We need to look at the southeastern part of the Mogilev Region: how many people are needed, and what kind,” he said. “We shouldn’t cluster them all in one place. They need to be spread out. We need people everywhere.”

Lukashenko did not specify where the Belarusians had gone or why there are “so few people” in the country. But he said that Belarus is ready to consider options for providing additional training and education for such workers right here in the country. “But preferably as families. When a family man comes here, that’s good for us. We’ll need people. And we really need them,” he emphasized.

Please have children for us

Lukashenko wasn’t lying here. That said, it’s not entirely clear whether we can count on a mass influx of Uzbek citizens. The unemployment rate in Uzbekistan is about 4.8%, which isn’t very high. At the same time, the average nominal salary nationwide is $560, and in Tashkent, it’s about $880. So it’s unlikely that attracting qualified specialists will be cheap.

Although Lukashenko did make a good point about families. His own fertility rate (the number of children per woman) barely exceeded 1—the worst figure in the region after war-torn Ukraine. In Uzbekistan, however, it hovers between 2.9 and 3.2 children per woman. Perhaps this problem could be addressed as well.

It’s not entirely clear, though, whether migrant workers would want to have children while living in captivity. The Belarusian authorities immediately made it clear that the recruitment of labor would be subject to strict control, including through the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “There must be a system. We have one. I have established it. Only the supervisor can bring them in, and he is responsible for them,” said Lukashenko. “There must be order. There must be no chaos.”

“That’s why it will be selective and targeted. One, two, ten, twenty people at a time. As many as needed. Personal responsibility. Aides will keep this under control,” he added. “Of course, if everything were done by our own people, Belarusians—that would be fine. But sometimes we don’t have enough people, and sometimes they don’t want to work. We can’t do without hiring workers from outside.”

Not Just About Migrants

Lukashenko explained that the discussion isn’t limited to bringing in migrant workers to the agricultural sector. The proposal, announced during the talks, also involves cooperation in food production—including investments—with subsequent exports to Uzbekistan. For example, based in the Vitebsk region. “Come, cultivate the land, pay taxes (as required), and we’ll sell this produce to you in Uzbekistan. A stable, rapidly growing market—40 million people. And we’re ready to bring people from there,” he said. “I’m saying: please invest in the Vitebsk Region—we’re looking for an investor.”

The head of Lukashenko’s Administration Dmitry Krutoy reported that there are currently 7,000 Uzbek citizens registered in Belarus, some of whom are already working in the economy. But there are also a large number of students studying at various universities. The authorities expect that many of them will eventually stay to work in Belarus.

Lukashenko noted that appropriate living conditions must be created for these people—finding housing and granting them equal rights with Belarusian citizens.

He was wrong to mention the latter, though. The situation with the rights of Belarusian citizens is complicated. These “rights” are subject to that very same control “including through the Ministry of Internal Affairs.” Although appointing a single minister to be responsible both for driving Belarusians out of the country and for bringing in migrants is entirely in line with the state’s logic.

Pellets Again

Finally, Lukashenko touched on the fuel issue. He was told that the boiler room at the agricultural service facility he visited today runs on wood pellets.

“That’s right. We need to gradually and persistently switch to heating with pellets, firewood, and other fuels. The Poles have sky-high prices for pellets right now. They aren’t buying them (they aren’t purchasing this product from Belarus because of sanctions). Well, whatever. We need pellets here. We need to heat our homes in Belarus,” he said.

He emphasized that Belarus has a vast amount of local wood raw materials that need to be efficiently processed and utilized.

“We know how to do this. We have more than enough factories. That’s why pellets—and more pellets. Natural gas or any other fuel source should only be used as a backup,” he insisted. Lukashenko did not provide the math behind the transition from Russian natural gas—which is cheap for Belarus—to pellets, with which he planned to flood Western markets.

We’ve written here about the idea of making Belarus a major pellet powerhouse. Lukashenko came up with it in the late 2010s, when it became clear that something had gone wrong with the wood processing industry. The plan was to sell pellets to Europe and get rich. As part of this project, 67 pellet production facilities were built in Belarus with an installed capacity of nearly 900,000 metric tons of pellets per year.

The authorities have not disclosed the total cost of the project. Perhaps because they themselves were unable to calculate it accurately. But the construction of the first 13 plants cost nearly 150 million rubles. In 2021, they even managed to ship 570,000 metric tons of Belarusian pellets to Europe. But then, something went wrong…