What Hides Behind Minsk 'Rublevka' Fence?

There are three categories of people who can own such houses in Belarus.

With the help of the drone, journalists managed to photo the elite buildings near the Tsnyanskaye Reservoir. Drazdy built in the early 2000s can only dream about such a luxury. The territory of the new "Forbidden City" is fenced, it is guarded. Well, authorized entry only.

The question arises: who does live in Minsk "Rublevka" and why is it a secret?

Charter97.org asked Leanid Zaiko, the head of the "Strategy" analytical center, and well-known Minsk blogger Jauhen Lipkovich about it:

- I've heard that two generals, "deputies", and a person from the Lukashenka Administration live there. The fact that residents of the elite village fenced their houses means that they are afraid of "spongers". They worry about their property, Jauhen Lipkovich assumes.

Leanid Zaiko believes that there are only three categories of people in Belarus who can own such real estate:

- First of all, these are representatives of the nomenclature. The thing is that these land plots are distributed between "the chosen people". Those who had more power could get even two land plots. One land plot is for sale, and the second - for construction of a house.

The second category are businessmen under patronage. They are well-known in Belarus.

The third category are officials of all ranks.

You know, it would become popular to publish not income declarations, but expenditure ones. It would be a good food for reflection in the media. People should know what officials spend our money on.

Another paradox is the prices these houses are sold at. Some houses can cost up to $1 million.

- These are exorbitant prices. How could one earn such money in Belarus? Salaries of Belarusians equal to100-300 dollars, unemployment benefit is 12 dollars...

- This is not a problem. Trade in potash fertilizers, oil trade. In short, nomenclature business for a chosen group of people. There are few of them, and they know each other well.

Given this property, I would not say that this is a reliable investment. People absolutely ignore the real estate market. Does it make any sense to buy a house of $1 million, it it is possible to buy a good house of $300 thousand in Spain and toast on the beach.

This is the behavior of peasant millionaires. Such a Belarusian Koreiko: they earned money, and do not know how to spend it. They are stupid and enough primitive. They settle in the country they have cleaned out.

The tricky part is that it is extremely hard to sell it. Real estate prices continue declining both on the Belarusian and the world market.

An owner of such a house once approached me in a bank and said that his house cost $400 thousand and he could not sell it even at $200 thousand.

These people excite pity. In general, the practice shows that Belarus is not the best place to do business. Today you are on a roll, tomorrow you can find yourself in prison.

- We observe a huge gap between the rich and the poor. If there is a medium class in Europe, which forms the major part of the society, Belarus divides into those who live in Drazdy and others.

- This is a common phenomenon for "Haiti-type" capitalism. There is the class of "light-minded" people in the country. They are absolutely useless, they do not speak foreign languages. Why don't they buy real estate abroad? Because nobody needs them. A Drazdy resident can't even say "I’d like to be a garbage man". And this is all they can expect there.

This countryside elite unwisely invested its money. It's high time to understand that the main source is human capital assets and intellect. They can't get it, their historical mission was accomplished long ago, Leanid Zaiko believes.