Lukashenko Set Up Khrenin And Volfovich

The governor has undone all efforts to whitewash his own initiative.

Lukashenko’s decision to send farmers who had violated regulations to “re-education” in the army was met from the very beginning with talk of yet another blow to the Armed Forces’ reputation, as service in its ranks—at the ruler’s behest—began to look less like a duty and more like a punishment, writes “Solidarnast”.

Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin and his subordinates had to work hard to at least somewhat mitigate the fallout from Lukashenko’s sudden whim.

The Ministry of Defense’s press service has adopted a new term: “the army—a source of discipline.” The ministry’s media outlets, as well as state media, regularly reported on the conscription of military-age men “from among specialists at agricultural enterprises.”

At the same time, the reason these people ended up in the army was carefully obscured; the emphasis was placed on how diligently and without complaint they were mastering new skills or refreshing the experience they had gained during their compulsory military service.

The head of the Security Council Alexander Volfovich also visited the unit where the training took place and, following one of his inspections, drew an interesting conclusion: “Where a leader clearly sets tasks and specific goals for the day and the week—that’s where results are achieved. There, the cleanup proceeds smoothly and on time, and the work goes well. It’s exactly the same here.”

At the end of the training sessions, the “slacking” farmers were sent home and practically treated like heroes. Minister Khrenin presented each of them with commemorative gifts and called Lukashenko’s experiment a success. He hinted, however, that the authorities could repeat it if necessary.

And now, a month after the conclusion of this “re-education” saga, Lukashenko has effectively nullified the efforts of the defense minister and the head of the Security Council to whitewash his own initiative.

While visiting the “Gorodets” farm—which had undergone yet another “renaissance” at the expense of the budget—the ruler advised its director: “I’ve laid out the task, I’ve mapped it out. If it’s not done—off to Khrenin, the defense minister. They’ll be digging the ground in winter and sleeping in tents.”

And a couple of days later, the threat of military action was also directed at officials during a seminar-meeting: “We’re working on land reclamation. But where we’ve done reclamation, everything grows over by the second year—no one’s keeping an eye on it. True, it varies from place to place. Make sure, guys, that we don’t have to send you to Khrenin.”

One can speculate whether this stems from the inability to make an inefficient administrative system function, or from the fact that the old scare tactics and threats of handcuffs and prison no longer work.

But in any case, there’s a sense that today’s army in this country is becoming more terrifying to officials and subordinate workers than prison itself.

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