Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 22/11/2021
A photo of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is circulating on social networks, featuring incorrect claims about the alleged easy lifestyle in Belarus under his regime.
On November 11, 2021, on the Facebook profile of Васиљка Дожић (Vasiljka Dozic), a photograph of Alexander Lukashenko was published, listing the alleged benefits of living in Belarus under his rule. The photo’s title is the following “It bothers the West because:”, after which the alleged benefits are listed.
The photo states, among other things, that gasoline is cheaper than water in Belarus, that the salaries of nurses are $1,000 and teachers’ salaries are $4,000 a month, that apartments cost 5,000 rubles and that newlyweds are given $64,000 to buy an apartment. It also states that families receive a $1,000 subsidy per year for each member, that the GDP per capita is $14,192, that the state bears the cost of education abroad, that entrepreneurs receive a state incentive of $20,000, and that electricity is free.
1. Gasoline is cheaper than water. 1 liter of gasoline. – $0.14
2. The newlyweds are given $64,000 to buy an apartment. The apartment costs an average of 5,000 rubles.
3. The most successful journalist on the planet visited the country.
4. For each family member, the state pays a $1,000 subsidy per year.
5. Cream is just like in the USSR, milk is in accordance with GOST.
6. NATO military bases are closed, and the coronavirus is treated like the flu.
7. A nurse’s salary is $1,000, and a teacher’s salary is $4,000.
8. For each newborn, the state allocates $7,000 for the family.
9. If you start your own business, you will receive a one-time cash grant of $20,000.
10. You can walk around Minsk in perfectly clean white socks.
11. GDP per capita – 14,192 USD
12. Education and training abroad – at the expense of the state.
13. Chain stores for large families with symbolic prices of basic food products.
14. For selling expired products – large fines and detention by the special police units.
15. Part of the pharmacy provides medicines free of charge.
16. There is no illegal sale of narcotics and drug addiction because this “terrible dictator” punishes dealers with the death penalty.
17. Rental is absent.
18. Electricity is free for all residents.
19. The sale and consumption of alcohol are controlled – “the dry law”.
20. Loans for the purchase of cars and apartments are without interest.
21. Real estate agencies are prohibited.
22. The state pays for the purchase of cars up to 50%, for soldiers and police officers – 65%.
23. When he gained power, he expelled from the country international corporations and foreign investors who held a monopoly and used cheap labor, most of the production was nationalized or owned by domestic businessmen.
24. Condensed milk production has increased 10 times, crab hunting, which was not an economic branch in Belarus, has become one of the key ones and has increased from 0 to 150 tons per year.
Ever since Lukashenko became president, Belarus has had the lowest unemployment and crime rate in Europe.
In the same period, the photo with these claims was published on five other Facebook accounts, and it also became popular on Twitter.
In the summer of 2020, similar claims were published on about thirty Facebook profiles in the form of status (1, 2, 3). The oldest status with these claims that we managed to find was published on the profile of Goran Celikovic on August 13, 2020.
Articles containing claims of alleged prosperity in Belarus were also published in 2020 on several websites:
WE REVEAL EXCLUSIVELY: This is why globalists have a problem with Lukashenko (Nacionalonline)
IT SHOULD BE CLEAR TO US: This is why GLOBALISTS and SATANISTS have a problem with Lukashenko! (Photo) (Nacionalist)
FACTS ABOUT BELARUS YOU DIDN’T KNOW: Increased life expectancy, ban on the sale of alcohol and thousands of dollars for babies! (Glas javnosti)
What are the facts?
Alexander Lukashenko, born in 1954 in Belarus, has been the country’s president since 1994. In 1996, he persuaded voters to approve a new constitution, which entitles him to extend his term, rule by decree and appoint one-third of the upper house of parliament. According to an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica, Lukashenko is an authoritarian and unpredictable leader who has resisted economic and political reforms, suppressed disagreements in the media and among the people, and led Belarus into isolation from European neighbors and the international community.
Since 2006, the elections in Belarus have been accompanied by suspicions of electoral fraud. After the presidential elections in 2020, Lukashenko’s victory again caused the biggest wave of protests since the fall of the Soviet Union, according to Britannica. Nearly 7,000 people were arrested, many people were injured in clashes with police, and workers in state-owned factories left their jobs in protest. Lukashenko has rejected calls for new elections, describing protesters as “rats” under foreign control. He was sworn in for a sixth term in September 2020, and opposition leaders were forced into exile.
Our partner fact-checking portal Fake News Tragac also dealt with incorrect claims about the Lukashenko regime and life in Belarus, which have been circulating on social networks for more than a year, in its analysis from August 2020, thus referring to every controversial claim.
The claim that gasoline is cheaper than water in Belarus, i.e., it costs 0.14 dollars, is incorrect. A liter of gasoline in this country costs about 0.78 US dollars (1.78 Belarusian rubles), while a liter of water costs about one ruble, according to Fake News Tragac.
The claim that the apartments cost 5,000 rubles is also incorrect. According to Fake News Tragac, it is possible to buy about two square meters of an apartment in Minsk for that money, about three square meters in Gomel, and about four square meters in Pinsk. There is also no evidence that the government is giving the newlyweds $64,000 to buy an apartment.
According to the World Bank for 2021, GDP per capita is 6,390 US dollars, not 14,192, as claimed.
The salaries of nurses are around 390 US dollars, and the salaries of university professors are around 460 dollars, according to Fake News Tragac.
In their analysis, they refuted several other inaccurate claims:
Claim: For each family member, the state pays a $1,000 subsidy per year.
Facts: There is no such thing as a universal subsidy in Belarus.
Claim: If you are starting your own business, you will receive a one-time cash grant of $20,000.
Facts: The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Belarus website states that the amount of the subsidy depends on several factors, such as the cost of living and the type of entrepreneurial activity. The subsidy currently amounts to about $2,800, and in areas with high unemployment, it can reach a thousand dollars more. The information that 923 unemployed persons received the subsidy in the first half of 2018 can serve as illustrative data on the extent of the application of this measure.
Claim: Education and training abroad – at the expense of the state.
Facts: Student Irina Jevsejenko is a Belarusian studying in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod. She confirmed for Tragac that her education is not at the expense of the state: “There are international projects and scholarships, but it is far from the fact that every education abroad is paid for by the state”, says Jevsejenko.
Claim: Electricity is free for all residents.
Facts: Although there are certain benefits for special categories of the population, most citizens of Belarus pay for electricity, according to the tariffs that you can see here.
Thus, the claims about the alleged prosperity in Belarus are mostly factually incorrect.
According to the facts, the claims about the alleged privileges of living under Lukashenko’s rule in Belarus, originally published on the profile of Goran Celikovic, are rated as fake news. We rate all transmissions of these claims as the transmission of fake news.
The article published by Glas javnosti, the first media-produced content to feature the same claims, is also rated as fake news. We rate all transmissions of the article as the transmission of fake news.