English

Lukashenka says that he felt ashamed of Belarusian people while in Kazakhstan

Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on Friday that he felt “ashamed” of the Belarusian people while staying in Kazakhstan earlier this week.

“I was ashamed as everybody was asking me what was going on in Belarus and why store shelves were empty there,” the government’s BelTA news agency quoted Mr. Lukashenka as saying at a government meeting held on Friday to discuss the country’s economic woes. “For the first time in my presidential career I felt ashamed of the part of people who have caused this panic. They look at us as if we were some savages. And they [media] only fuel the tensions deliberately.”

Mr. Lukashenka urged people against panic buying goods. “Stop turning your apartments into warehouses,” he said. “If you need meat, buy one kilogram but don’t buy 10 kilograms. There is enough of it. We just can’t supply stores quickly with three times the amount of meat that was available yesterday.”

Mr. Lukashenka said that he did not understand why people were panic buying food and other items.

As for soaring prices, he said, “They have already reached upper limits.” //BelaPAN