Gennady Fedynich: Belstat Lies By At Least 10%
1- 18.03.2026, 18:03
- 2,696
Photo: "Radyo Svaboda".
Why does MAZ borrow workers from BMZ?
Employees of the Belarusian Metallurgical Plant (BMZ) are temporarily sent to work at the Minsk Automobile Plant. This looks like another alarming signal about the state of one of the largest enterprises of Belarus.
Why does the Minsk plant have to literally "borrow" from other plants?
About this, the site Charter97.org talked to former political prisoner and trade union leader Gennady Fedynich:
- For MAZ, in all likelihood, the production plans have not changed, regardless of the state of the plant. I will say that until 2020-2022, a large number of buses produced at MAZ went to Ukraine. This was, in principle, the main buyer of these products.
But if today MAZ says that it lacks, for example, electricians to repair equipment, it first of all shows that MAZ does not receive new equipment. As a rule, it is foreign. Old equipment needs repair, which should be done only by specialists, not by a person from the street.
As for mechanical assembly and foundry, it is clear that the plan must be fulfilled, there are not enough people for assembly. I will say that it is possible and necessary to train on the assembly line, but only on the assembly line, and when it comes to foundry production or more serious mechanical assembly processes, it is not a month-long training.
This once again confirms the fact that if MAZ is down, we do not know information about other companies that are also engaged in mechanical assembly production. This all suggests that there is practically no sales market. Russia has KAMAZ, but MAZs are not taken. Where to put them? The question remains open. It's still possible to produce, but to sell them is already a problem.
- Industrial production in Belarus has accelerated its decline, even official statistics speaks about it. Can the story with MAZ be considered a symptom of the general collapse of the Belarusian industry?
- If we talk about official statistics, then, believe me, this figure should be increased by a dozen percent. No matter how much Lukashenko says that it is necessary to master the far arc, it is not being mastered. And the problem is not to produce a product, but to sell it to whom and for what. The regime is now ready to sell even for pennies to free up warehouses, but it doesn't work.
This once again confirms that Belarus needs new technologies, new production, new equipment. There are people, but, as you have realized, Belarusians themselves do not want and do not go for this job, even if it is written: "big salaries".
Belarusians do not feel confident that their rights will be respected there. They are afraid that they will be exploited and then sent to free bread.
- How seriously such enterprises as MAZ are affected by international sanctions?
- You know, I do not have the data, but, in my opinion, it can only affect the supply of metalworking equipment, because MAZ has never sent its machines to Europe. There were Volvo and other companies, there was no clientele there to buy MAZ.
There was trade with the former Soviet Union countries, somewhere partly with China. But today you probably realize that these countries already own a number of enterprises that have their own equipment and do not need MAZs. Only an idiot can compare Volvo and MAZ today, there is no comparison here.
As for the issues of product sales, of course, before planning and producing something, you need to know where you can sell it. Unfortunately, unfortunately, we produce first and think later. And this situation is going on in all industries of Belarus. And it will be a problem, it will grow. I am sure that soon MAZ will not need so many employees, because they simply will not be able to realize what they have produced and will be forced to ask for a reduction in plans and, naturally, a reduction in the number of jobs.
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