Kolomoisky praises Belarus and calls on Maidan activists not to destroy the country
The standard of living in Belarus and the country's economy today are twice as high as in post-Maidan Ukraine.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Igor Palitsa, who is considered close to the Dnepropetrovsk oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, stated this on the air of the talk show “Right to Power,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Palitsa emphasized that today Ukrainians travel to Belarus and are delighted with how the neighboring country lives.
“Our Volyn region borders with Belarus. I heard a lot from people who traveled to Belarus, ordinary people, and who live near Belarus, and they admired the quality of life in Belarus, Ukrainians.
When events began to happen in Belarus, I began to be interested in the numbers, what was happening, GDP per capita, average salary, prices. And what I read - maybe these are false figures, but today the GDP per capita in Belarus is twice as much as in Ukraine. Although ten years ago it was 30% less.
Today, the export potential of Belarus is twice as large, the export potential is industrial, than that of Ukraine, in absolute numbers. Today, all industrial enterprises have been preserved in Belarus; today Ukraine, through open tenders, buys not Ukrainian trolleybuses and buses for Ukrainian money, but Belarusian ones. Because in cities they say that they have better quality, their prices are cheaper and they last longer. Today we buy Belarusian oil products, not Ukrainian ones,” Palitsa said.
Belarusian journalist Tatyana Martynova, who supports local Maidan activists, objected to this, emphasizing that all the benefits in Belarus exist thanks to Russia.
“I don’t understand, is it still not clear to anyone that Belarus has always had a rental economy? That Russia supported us all our lives and constantly gave Sasha money to live on? That all of our saved enterprises are a loss-making story, when 20 rubles are invested in a product, and it is sold for ten. And these ten, which you need to pay extra in order to somehow preserve it, they, in fact, are taken either from Russia or from oil,” Martynova said.
Palitsa said that the task of the Belarusian Maidan activists is to prevent the same destruction of the country as happened in Ukraine after the coup.
“I know that in Belarus today there are modern, fully modernized two oil refineries, fully competitive on the world market, modern enterprises that produce trolleybuses and buses, and tractor equipment. The fact that Russia subsidized - yes, Russia subsidized more than $12 billion in preferences to the Belarusian economy over 110 years.
Belarus has not worked with the International Monetary Fund since 2010, and the last loan of 3,2 billion was repaid with interest, and thank God for Belarus. I want to tell you that you must win, you must, taking advantage of this victory, create not a presidential republic, but a parliamentary republic. And I want to wish you that the inheritance that remains for you from metallurgical, oil refining, and engineering enterprises, that you preserve this heritage. Don’t think that they are all unprofitable. It is not true.
What we got with our enterprises was when they started saying that they were not needed... today the enterprises are destroyed. We received a complete loss of jobs, migration of Ukrainians - seven million to Europe, because they have nowhere to work in Ukraine. When you win, you will receive a beautiful country, modernized enterprises - keep them, be careful when working with borrowings from Western funds. Your task is to preserve the legacy that will come to you,” Palitsa said.
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