Officials: It Was Lukashenka Who Told About Money And ‘Mercedes cars’

The participants of the sports meeting commented on the sketch made by the ex-Vice Premier.

The participants of the sports-related session confirmed to Radio Liberty that the notes of Uladzimir Drazhyn, who put down Lukashenka’s words about “cashola and Mercedes cars”, were true.

The session with Lukashenka, dedicated to the development of summer sports, took place on December 18. During the session, former Vice-PM, Ambassador to Lithuania Uladzimir Drazhyn was making notes and put down in his notebook the words about “cashola”, “Mercedes cars” and “chicks”. The camera of the ONT TV-channel captured the notebook page with this sketch.

Leparskaya: “Let them show result first and then they will have everythging”

Iryna Leparskaya, the head coach of the national rhythmic gymnastics team, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Gymnastics Association, says that the word Mercedes really sounded in the context of the high sports results: having achieved something, you have the right to live within your means.

“Lukashenka said everything correctly: they used to drive Mercedes cars, but now they don’t drive them because there is no result to boast about,” Leparskaya explained. “His logic is clear: let them first show the result, earn, and then they will have everything. Do not give out advances, and reward only for real work. I fully support him in this sense. ”

The words “cashola” and “Mercedes cars” sounded indeed

Chairman of the Belarusian Athletics Federation, a hammer thrower in the past, the “deputy” of the “house of representatives” Vadzim Deviatouski noted, laughing, that he could not be responsible for each colleague who makes notes during such meetings. In an interview, he said that the words “cashola” and “Mercedes cars” sounded in the context of the conversation about more careful consumption of the budget funds.

“Considering that today much attention is paid to sport, we need to manage with what we have,” said Deviatouski. “In other words, it is necessary to carry out optimization more intelligently, to rely on traditions, in what kinds of sports there are better chances. Well, it is difficult for me to comment the way someone could interpret this.

Of course, every person perceives what they hear in their own way, but the context itself is important. There was no such thing: to roll in clover or not to roll in clover. The point is that there may not be any extra money for sports. After all, if you set the priorities correctly, the existing funds will be sufficient. ”

Deviatouski: I don’t remember anyone mentioning “chicks”

Were the “chicks” noted by Uladzimir Drazhyn mentioned in any context?

“I honestly did not hear that,” says Deviatouski. - I understand everything: the session lasted for four hours, everyone was tired, but I don’t remember that such a word was heard from someone. Personally, I do not know where it came from. Moreover, I was focused on my report - believe me, it’s a great responsibility to speak at such a meeting and to report on athletics. Therefore, I can only speak for myself: the sport of great achievements requires state attention, but we must also give something in response to such investments.”

At a meeting on the development of summer sports, Lukashenka was outraged by the situation in Belarusian sports - the said that despite the pumping in much “cashola”, there has been no result. It is the word “cashola” that is contained in one of the quotes provided by the BelTA agency.

The ONT TV-channel showed a video report about a sports meeting on December 18 in the final broadcast. In the material, the cameraman captured the notes made by one of the participants — Uladzimir Drazhyn. On a close-up view, it is clearly legible that the author wrote down: “not enough cashola, no Mercedes cars, the chicks in the back ...”. On this, the sentence ends.

Uladzimir Drazhyn confirmed that he was at this meeting and did not object that it were his notes showed on TV.

No comment from the Spokesman for Lukashenka has been obtained yet.

State media “censored” Lukashenka before

More than once it happened that some statements of Lukashenka were not published by the majority of state media - but some media outlet could come out with an “extra” statement.

For example, the ONT TV-channel showed how Lukashenka said that among other things “taking out manure to the fields” is also the work of the government, and the press-center of Lukashenka and a number of state-run media outlets published the entire phrase except for the manure passage.

Earlier, the press-center of Lukashenka “concealed”, for example, Lukashenka’s words that students who study to become agronomists need to be “dumped into shit” during the first year - many things were published from that pedagogical meeting, but this phrase wasn’t in the text version, only in live video broadcast.

Also, the press-center of Lukashenka did not report, for example, how Lukashenka contemplated on the issue of what the white color should look like - but it was shown it in the evening news.

According to the sources of journalists, the responsibility for the official's blunder was at least once passedshifted on the ONT journalist who transmitted it. In 2016, for an interview with (already former) Deputy Prime Minister Anatol Kalinin about “the most modern traffic”, the journalist was suspended from the air, the question of her dismissal was considered.