Seven Failures Of Belarusian Authorities

Last year was no exception.

The authorities once again failed to fulfil a number of promises made to the citizens of Belarus. ‘Salidarnasts’ lists some of them.

Launch Of Mass Production Of Belarusian Electric Cars

The long-running series of creating a domestic electric car was continued in 2024. At the beginning of the year, Aliaksandr Lukashenka showed up at the BelGee plant and demanded to start mass production of Belarusian electric cars by 1 January 2025.

However, officials have already got used to strange and unreasonable tasks of the ruler. Director of BelGee Hennadz Sviderski did not even make excuses for the failure to fulfil the task in the last interview:

- Five prototypes of the BELGEE eX50 are ready... These are still prototypes, and the purpose of this pilot batch is to evaluate the technical and commercial parameters of the machine, as well as its competitiveness.

He hinted quite transparently about the prospects of the Belarusian electric car:

- It is one thing to produce a model originally designed as an electric car. It's quite another to remove the petrol tank and insert other equipment in a car with an internal combustion engine. This may cause an increase in production costs compared to competitors.

Launch of the Electric Train to Minsk Airport and ‘Restoration of All Roads’

In 2020, Lukashenka said: an electric train from the capital will be brought to the ‘Minsk’ National Airport within 2-3 first years of the next five-year plan. The promise has not been fulfilled, which, however, we should be glad about: there was no economic feasibility of building a railway to the airport in the past, and even less so now - with the ban on Belavia to fly to Europe and low passenger traffic.

In general, making ‘transport’ promises is one of the favourite activities of the ruler, who is known for not answering for his words. Thus, in March 2024, Lukashenka said that by 9 May ‘all roads must be restored’.

Most recently, before the New Year he announced plans to connect satellite towns with Minsk by high-speed tracks. However, if fifteen years ago, his statements included just a railway, then in the new version of the old promise - there is a ‘surface metro’.

Cancellation of Roaming between Belarus and Russia

The agreement on this was concluded back in 2018. Initially, the decision was supposed to come into force in 2022. Then, both Belarusian and Russian officials repeatedly said that roaming would definitely be cancelled in 2024.

And once again it didn't happen. The new promise - roaming with Russia will be cancelled from 1 March 2025.

Start of Repairs at the Red Cathedral

The authorities closed the church in the centre of Minsk in 2022, stating the need for repairs after a fire. In October next year, Deputy Chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee Artsiom Tsuran said that the reconstruction of the church of St. Simeon and St. Helen in Minsk ‘is being carried out according to plan,’ and in the first quarter of 2024 ‘work in the building is to begin’.

However, this did not happen in the first, second, third or fourth quarters. The latest news is that the authorities demanded from the parish of the cathedral to repay the debt of 148 thousand roubles.

Widespread Use of Domestic COVID-19 Vaccine

A few years ago Lukashenka made a strange demand to create a Belarusian vaccine against covid. In early 2023, then Minister of Health Dzmitry Pinevich said: the widespread use of domestic vaccine against COVID-19 is planned to start in Belarus in 2024.

And now it's already 2025, but the Belarusian vaccine BelKovidVak has not been available in polyclinics. In autumn, it was reported about the complaints of Belarusians that there was no vaccine at all, but then the Russian ‘Sputnik Lite’ was brought.

White Coats noted: ‘It's obvious that the plan for 2024 has completely failed - the production of the Belarusian vaccine has not started.’

Launch of the Belarusian Satellite

Few people remember, but once the authorities said that Belarus would become a major producer of satellites in the near future. Periodically, officials made promises on specific dates of launches.

For example, in 2021, the head of the Academy of Sciences, Uladzimir Husakou, claimed about cooperation with the Russians:

- A constellation of two spacecraft is envisaged, with the launch of the first one scheduled for 2024 so far.

Last year, the authorities did not mention this promise.

Launch of the Nezhynski Mining and Processing Combine

Almost a decade ago, Lukashenka and Russian oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev assured: when the second enterprise for the production of potash fertilisers would start working in our country, Belarusians would live much better.

However, the construction in Luban district is still not completed. It was supposed to be finished in 2023, but it didn't happen in 2024. Moreover, it turned out that the situation with the Nezhynski mining and processing plant is quite deplorable.

Gutseriev said that after the sanctions were imposed he ‘lost interest in this project’ and handed it over to the ‘Belarusian state’, answering positively to the question about ‘nationalisation in essence’.

Another Lukashenka's ‘mega-manager’ said the following about the Nezhynski mining and processing plant in 2024: ‘Please, restore order, as far as it is possible at the construction site’.

A year and a half ago, officials said that the the Nezhynski mining and processing plant would start working by 1 June 2025. However, it is already evident that this promise will fail as well.

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