MINSK, 16 November (BelTA) – In the present circumstances, the most important issue is how to keep the economy, because the economy is people's lives, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in an interview to Belarusian and foreign political observers in Minsk on 13 November, BelTA has learned.
The president views the solution of economic issues to be the most important task, especially in the context of the current difficult situation, including the external pressure and the new wave of COVID-19.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the situation is under control, despite attempts to rock it. “We are keeping the situation under control. We're going to deal with protesters, they're not going to break the country. But it is difficult to keep the economy running when we are under attack. They called on people to withdraw bank deposits. We had this situation and we coped with it. They called on workers to strike, but no one supported them... These attacks happen against the backdrop of the new wave of pandemic,” the president noted.
"The main thing for us is to keep the economy running because the economy is people's lives," the head of state said. "Disposable incomes, taking into account the inflation, rose by 7% last year and by 4.5% this year."
“Salaries, pensions, social support to people have not collapsed,’” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. "indeed, it's not easy. They try to use every thing here to rock the boat. Protests started subsiding, they needed some big events to keep the protest mood alive and hold out till the spring. This is their plan. But we'll clean streets up, we'll find them, we know them all.”
The president spoke of the recent case: "I didn't think that anarchists are such militants. Four people were detained on the Ukrainian border. Your border guards did a good job. They found a huge arms cache. You found it, and told the media. Thank you for finding it, because it was intended to be used against us [meant to be illegally imported to Belarus]. We detained four anarchists who already torched several buildings, premises, cars. Yesterday this Dedok came from Russia. He is a Belarusian but was hiding there and we detained him here. We see who is trying to radicalize, we see what is happening in Belarus today. It is not about the internal situation. We're being attacked from all sides.”
“I mentioned Poland. We know who sits in these centers – Americans. Unfortunately, they set up a second center in Ukraine. To work against Belarus. But we see it, this center," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.