"This Is A Distinctive National Trait Of Belarusians"
- 17.07.2026, 8:29
A Russian woman shared her impressions of our country.
A Russian woman from Yakutsk moved with her Belarusian husband to one of the district centers in the Gomel Region in 2023.
She spoke about the pros and cons of living in Belarus, as well as how she ended up on the list of freeloaders, according to “Solidarnast”.
“You absolutely must find out where the commission is located in your city so you don’t end up on the ‘list of freeloaders’
Victoria is 35 years old. She and her husband bought a one-room apartment in a small Belarusian town, since they don’t want to live in a big city. She talked about the job situation in their town.
— For jobs that don’t require high qualifications—like a sales associate in a store—as far as I know, the salary in our town ranges from 800 to 1,200 Belarusian rubles.
Naturally, most of the jobs are in regional centers. I suppose young people looking for work should move to those very cities, where there’s more economic development.
Victoria herself works remotely in Russia. She explained how she ended up on the list of economic non-contributors in Belarus.
— Right now, Belarus has a law regarding people who are not economically active. In this case, additional obligations are imposed on you. This manifests itself in higher utility rates.
For example, here are our utility bills for a one-room apartment—89 rubles for a winter month. When I was added to the list of people not engaged in economic activity, our utility bills doubled—to 189 rubles.
The Russian woman also showed her electricity bill—38.87 rubles—and noted that their gas bill is negligible.
“Home internet and cell service are billed together, coming to about 65 rubles a month. I know for sure that, at least in Yakutsk, it’s much more.
I work part-time remotely in Russia. Since there are agreements between Russia and Belarus, the taxes you pay in Russia are taken into account. To qualify, you must have an official employment contract and various documents from your employer. That way, you won’t end up on the “list of freeloaders.”
But here I ran into some red tape: the tax office knows exactly what my income is, but the commission (the Employment Promotion Commission—ed.) doesn’t know about it. You have to submit certificates from your employer to them separately.
The first year, I reported my income only to the tax office. Then I found out that, as it turns out, I’d been on the “list of freeloaders” for quite some time, and I had to go to this commission, submit the documents there, after which they recalculated my benefits.
If you work in another country, you absolutely must find out where this commission is located in your city and submit all your documents there to avoid ending up on the “list of freeloaders.”
““Here there are just all kinds of very tasty cheeses, very tasty sausages, and condensed milk”
The Russian woman compares various aspects of life in Belarus to Russian Siberia, where she herself has lived in or visited several cities. For example, according to her, healthcare in this Belarusian region is roughly the same.
— I’d like to note separately that for Russian citizens, any medical treatment in Belarus is completely free if you have a residence permit.
If we take our clinic as an example, let’s say there’s always an electronic queue in Yakutsk. Here, the electronic queues don’t always work. It’s quite difficult to get an appointment with a doctor who sees patients for free, especially if they’re a specialist.
She described the medical staff’s attitude toward patients as nothing but positive. I’d also like to mention private healthcare—it’s cheaper than in Russia.
For example, a consultation with a specialist—an endocrinologist, an ophthalmologist, or a gynecologist—costs about 45 rubles. I don’t think you’d find prices like that in Russia right now. There certainly aren’t any in Yakutsk. And there definitely aren’t any in Novosibirsk, where I used to live.
The hospitals aren’t particularly different; they’re roughly the same standard. In Minsk, they might be slightly better. I had surgery at the Gomel Regional Hospital. In Russia, I was only hospitalized in Tomsk.
At the Gomel hospital, there was the option of staying in a private room, which is where I stayed. And that, of course, made my stay more comfortable, since the general wards were quite crowded. I think if I’d been in a general ward, I would have had a completely different impression.
Another thing that struck me was that I had elective surgery. Back home in Yakutsk, you’d check in today, have surgery tomorrow, and be discharged in three days because there are no beds available. It wasn’t like that here. I was admitted to the hospital; two days passed during which, for the most part, nothing happened—they ran some tests on me, and the doctor scheduled the surgery for a couple of days later.
After the surgery, I stayed in the hospital for a whole week to recover. By the end, I just wanted to get out of there—I mean, how long can this go on? Maybe they have some kind of protocol that says you have to stay in the hospital for exactly 10 or 14 days—I don’t know.
Among the positives, the Russian woman noted digital freedom, the fact that you don’t need to learn the language, the climate—compared to Yakutsk—and the food.
“Everything here is very tasty.” Of course, there are Russian manufacturers, but there are also a lot of local producers, and their products are simply top-notch.
You won’t see any cheese products on the shelves. I get the impression they don’t really go for that here. Here, there are only various kinds of very tasty cheeses, very tasty sausages, and condensed milk.
I like Belarusian candies. There are quite a few popular factories here, such as “Kommunarka,” “Spartak,” “Krasny Pishchevik.”
And what’s especially great is that everything is of very high quality. You can walk into a store, pick up any cheese or any yogurt with your eyes closed, and chances are, it’ll be delicious.
“If anyone’s showing off their rights, it must be the Russians”
The Russian woman describes Belarusians themselves as “very conscientious, hardworking, and honest.”
— Another stereotype, or common perception, is that it’s very clean here. That’s really true. It’s very clean here not because people don’t litter, but because they clean up well. And you notice that right away.
There are many different community cleanup days in Belarus. Some of them are mandatory. Government agencies set aside a day or a certain amount of time for their employees to simply go out to public places and tidy them up.
This is common practice here, and I think that’s exactly what ensures the streets are so clean.
I’d also like to note that, in general, people follow the rules, and you can feel that at various levels. For example, if there’s a large-scale cultural event—say, a concert that starts at 6 p.m., lasts until 11 p.m., followed by fireworks, and then a dance party from 11 p.m. to midnight.
Everyone is having fun in the city center—a huge crowd usually gathers—but by 12:15, it’s so quiet, it’s as if nothing had happened. In other words, everyone knows it ends at 12, the sound system is turned off, and people go their separate ways.
And I’ve never once seen any scandals or major altercations at public events. People calmly go home. To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like that anywhere else.
In other words, people here like to follow the rules, and I believe this is one of the distinctive national traits of Belarusians.
I’ve noticed—and other Russians have pointed this out as well—a sense of calm when you arrive in Belarus. When I first arrived myself, it even made me a little uneasy at first, because I couldn’t understand what the problem was—why no one was in a hurry, why the conversations were so matter-of-fact.
But then you kind of pick up that rhythm a little bit too—you think, why rush if everything’s fine, everything’s okay? Why worry about something big, something troubling, that you can’t really do anything about anyway? That’s the vibe I noticed.
I’ve never even seen a heated argument on the street. Most likely, this has to do with the general peacefulness of Belarusians, which many people talk about.
You won’t hear anyone loudly asserting their rights here. If anyone is asserting their rights, it’s the Russians.
When you’re in this atmosphere, you start to realize that, on the whole, there’s no point in getting into arguments—there’s no need, as they say, to turn things up a notch.