‘Lukashenka's Adherents Are A Gang Of Kleptocrats And Slackers’

A Belarusian man criticizes the regime for its attacks on business.

On December 26, the Kastrychnitski Court of Minsk tried co-owner of Ernis LLC, Aliaksandr Apolka. The company includes eight Palas construction stores and five Materik hypermarkets. A reader of the Charter97.org website commented on the repressions against Belarusian business:

— Lukashenka's law-enforcers, greedy for other people's money, accuse Apolka of participating in protests in 2020 and call him a “disgruntled bourgeois.” Aliaksandr and his partners began selling construction materials in 1993. In 2010, the company opened its first Materik hypermarket in Minsk in the Kamennaya Horka area.

In the summer of 22, the Finnish-Lithuanian group Kesko wanted to sell the largest chain of construction stores in Belarus, OMA. For the legitimate desire to sell its property, the company was included in the list of assets whose owners come from unfriendly countries. And there apparently cannot be sold without permission from the authorities. After that, the Lukashists detained the company's management. This group began working earlier than Ernis, in 1992. In 2003, they opened the first hypermarket in the country, the food stores Gippo and Bigzz opened 2 years later. OMA was one of the first to attract foreign investment in Belarus. In 2007, Kesko acquired a controlling stake in the group, thanks to which the company grew to 36 stores. In the situation with the Lukashists' repressions against the pioneers and leaders of DIY retail (companies selling building materials), everything is disgusting — the persecution of Belarusians for peacefully expressing their opinions, the regime's truly disgusting attitude towards businessmen. Thousands of jobs were created for people who really earned money for the country. Lukashists, this gang of kleptocrats and slackers, are surprised why the budget is empty and investments are fleeing Belarus. The agrojunta short-sightedly does not understand that by persecuting owners, it is killing the already barely breathing Belarusian large business.

Russian competitors will gladly take the place of the massacred Belarusian companies.

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