‘You should never give up’

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko visited the Chechersk District of the Gomel Region. This region is one of the most contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster: 43 settlements have disappeared from the map of the Chechersk District forever. But the Belarusians did not panic despite all the difficulties and negative forecasts, they did not give up, but began to fight. And they learned to live and work here. Speaking with local residents, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised, “The most important conclusion is that you should never give up, you have to fight to the last, and then the victory will be yours. This is the main conclusion I draw from the experience I got here… I will not say that we’ve beaten Chernobyl, but we’ve roughed it up a lot. We’ve managed to accomplish this task.”

Photo by BELTA


Upon arrival, the Belarusian leader inquired in detail about the course of spring field work, plans for the yield of various crops. Speaking about seed production, the Head of State paid special attention to the need to harvest our own seeds. However, Belarus now imports elite varieties. “We should also look at import substitution here. We should try to grow our own seeds,” the President is convinced.
Aleksandr Lukashenko asked about the progress of fodder procurement and urged everyone responsible to take a more serious approach to land reclamation. According to him, up to 200,000 hectares of land must be reclaimed every year and funds to do this must be found no matter what it costs. 
During his visit to the Otor agricultural enterprise, Aleksandr Lukashenko also got familiar with the silage maize sowing process, looked at how the work of a dairy farm is organised, and inquired about the economic performance of the enterprise.
An important point of the President’s working trip was a visit to the Chechersk central district hospital.
The Head of State was briefed on healthcare services available in the regions contaminated by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident, and in Chechersk District in particular. 


According to Healthcare Minister Dmitry Pinevich, the health status of the residents of the regions most suffered from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant does not differ from the average across the country. However, medical institutions in such regions are fitted with some special equipment to provide regular health check-ups for early detection and prevention. 
Special attention was paid to the birth rate. The birth rate in the district has been steadily high in recent years. A total of 171 children were born in 2021, which is higher than the regional average. 
The President was interested in the provision of medications and medical equipment and set a clear objective to make sure they are available in the required volume. The Head of State was told that the task is being fulfilled.
Aleksandr Lukashenko was shown the X-ray room, the interdistrict CT room, the interdistrict haemodialysis unit, the operation room for minimally invasive surgery and the paediatric department. The President talked to hospital staff and patients. Children undergoing treatment at the hospital received sweet gifts from the Head of State. 
Aleksandr Lukashenko laid flowers at the In Memory of the Resettled Villages memorial in Chechersk. The monument was designed by students of the Belarusian State University of Transport and installed in the town in 2003. 

‘They will be unable to bring Russia and Belarus to their knees’

The President had a pleasant conversation with the residents of the Chechersk Region. Aleksandr Lukashenko made a special emphasis during a conversation with the local population, 

“When I innumerate our accomplishments in recent years the first thing that I mention is that we have built our state. It must be cherished, it must be protected, no matter the cost. We must be cautious not to be caught up in some trouble. The main thing is to avoid war, as our people have always said. You see what is going very close to our border.”

The Head of State stressed that the contaminated areas are recovering well, and the incidence of citizens is even lower than in other regions. There is also a good birth rate here. 


The President remarked that the older generation can say how things were in the past and can compare them to the present. Nevertheless, the future already depends on young Belarusians, “And we will do everything for our young people to be genuine, to be an inheritor of what the elder generation created. I am deeply grateful to you for staying to live here back in the day. You and I have accomplished a lot here. I am already convinced that nearly all of you understand that we did the right thing back then,” said the Head of State.
The President stressed that he has great respect for those who at one time decided to stay in the contaminated regions and continued to develop them. He said that the country has passed a great way to mitigate the impact of the Chernobyl accident.
“My dream is that you live 10-15 years longer than the national average. This will make me happy. This will be the best confirmation that we have defeated Chernobyl,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
One of the questions was about benefits and payments to residents of the contaminated areas. People asked whether the government is planning to curtail these programmes in connection with the optimisation of budget expenditures due to the sanctions.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that state budget expenditures are optimised on an ongoing basis, “We are not going to curtail these programmes. We are optimising, making sure that the money is spent where needed… We optimise budget expenditures regularly, every year. This is not connected to the current situation.”


However, the Head of State is convinced that instead of small one-time payments to certain categories of people, it is better to concentrate funds and implement an important and necessary project, for example, to build a water deironing station.
Regarding the sanctions, the President noted that they not only complicated the situation, but also encouraged us to look for ways out, opened up new opportunities,

 “Everything we make now sells well on our main market — in Russia, in China, and other countries. Our tractors, automobiles, and harvesters — Russians are lining up to buy these machines and vehicles. They pay good money for them… The market is open. We just have to work hard and stop complaining about sanctions. They will be unable to bring Russia and Belarus to their knees considering our level of intellect, educational standards, technological levels, and resources. We just have to forget that we are under sanctions.”

The President also spoke about the actions of neighbouring EU countries that prevent their citizens from leaving for Belarus under a visa-free regime during the holidays, “People should be able to come from Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia to visit graves of their relatives like it has always happened. I’ve permitted them to do it without visas. But they don’t let their people enter Belarus. Why? Because the people come to us and buy salt. They don’t have salt! The great and rich West doesn’t have salt! Since they don’t want the people to say that Belarusians live a normal life, they simply don’t let them out. Here is democracy for you!”

***
In memory of the meeting, residents of Chechersk presented Aleksandr Lukashenko with gifts — honey and an icon of St. George the Victorious. The icon was hand made by craftsman Aleksandr Plistov. The man also collected honey. In response, the President promised him to send honey from his own apiaries, while also telling the story of their origin: bees were handed over to the Head of State through his son Viktor by a woman who had lost her husband. She asked the President to take care of the insects. At present, Aleksandr Lukashenko’s apiary numbers more than a hundred beehives; about 1.5 tonnes of honey are collected annually.
Aleksandr Plistov, from Chechersk, is a former Afghanistan war veteran, he worked as a forensic expert in the police. The man has been engaged in icon making — using complex electroplating techniques — for almost twenty-five years. 
“Openly speaking, I experienced great pride while working over it: that was a great honour for me to create an icon for our country’s leader. It took about a month to make the icon. St. George the Victorious was chosen as a character — a man and a symbol of Victory. He is a very appropriate image,” said the craftsman.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by
Photos by Ivan Yarivanovich