Lukashenka Signed Doom For Himself At Hrodna Azot

The situation at the company reflects the collapse of the entire system.

The workshops do not return from scheduled maintenance at the OJSC Hrodna Azot. The latest example was a brand new plant for the production of nitric acid and liquid nitrogen fertilizers, it entered service on February 28, 2019. The project costing 220 million rubles was the hope for the company to overcome the crisis. New jobs, modern equipment, and cost reduction were all supposed to bring the enterprise to the world market and increase competitiveness. It also was to increase the load and the output of marketable products, urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN), up to 1.2 million tons per year.

But the hopes of the Lukashists went awry because of the current regime. The lion's share of Belarusian UAN was exported to Central and Western Europe. But after the imposition of full-scale sanctions against the dictatorial regime, the management of the company was forced to recognize a record reduction in shipments, and complete stopping at the present moment.

The planned maintenance began on August 4, workers noticed that tanker trains were not leaving the plant even before it. It turned out that in order to simulate the production, the management of the enterprise decided to simply fill the tanks in order to empty the tanks with finished products. There were situations when the railways were so full that they did not allow empty tank cars to arrive to fill.

Today we know that only the old workshop is going to be returned from the scheduled maintenance. This means economies due to the extremely low load. The personnel of work shifts have been reduced to a minimum, and the remaining workers who are not involved in the work process are forced to leave it for five days, doing auxiliary work.

An equally sad situation occurs with other previously profitable workshops at the plant. Workers at the carbamide and ammonium sulphate production shops report that the warehouses are filled up by more than 60%. However, the company's management continues to imitate the normal production process, burying itself in a debt hole.

New projects are no longer in trend because the company entered this crisis. Although back in 2018 an interdepartmental working group was created to implement the Construction of the Nitrogen Complex investment project. Dreams of launching a new production in 2024 have remained on paper, and the deadlines are being postponed further.

The Lukashists have only themselves and the dictator to blame. Lukashenka signed doom not only for himself but also for his toadies, having run into tremendous sanctions. Now Belarusian enterprises are forced to imitate work, but at a loss. Buying energy resources and raw materials and not exporting products means a complete collapse of an already rotten system.

Artyom Chernikau, especially for the Basta! Telegram channel