Aliaksandr Lukashenka, during the government’s 2025 report, returned to the issue of street lighting and said he had been scolded over it by his youngest son Mikalai Lukashenka.
On 3 February, Lukashenka expressed dissatisfaction with how street lighting was being switched on and off. He demanded that lights be turned on at 20:00 and switched off at 8:30 in the morning. At that time, sunset was at 17:54 and sunrise at 8:53. The following day, officials complied with the instruction, switching on the lights an hour later in the evening. This triggered widespread discontent on social media.
Several days later, Lukashenka returned to the issue and objected to comparisons of Belarus with Ukraine because of the darkness. “Then I thought: where did this topic come from? The runaways’ IPSO. They threw it in from there — from space — and compared us with Ukraine. How can you compare us, a ‘totalitarian’ state, with ‘democratic’ Ukraine? You have to think about what you are doing,” he said on 6 February.
He said on Tuesday that it was Mikalai who had shown him satellite images of Belarus.
“They highlighted it, I said — sort it out. They went and switched off the lights. Late in the evening they plunged Minsk into darkness. Why? I did not demand that from you. Where is the beauty in that? And all of it fell on the president, on the president. I come home and the youngster switches it on. ‘Why do you need this?’ he says. ‘Was this necessary? Here, Ukraine, and here, Belarus. Two holes in the world,’ he says. Darkness,” Lukashenka said.
Among the feedback on the lighting regime presented to him was apparently a comment suggesting he had backed down, which he said had affected him.
“They were running their IPSO: ‘Ah, he gave the order, you see.’ And then, look, they called me a loser — said I had retreated. I did not advance and I did not retreat. How long will this continue?” Lukashenka said.
Deputy Prime Minister Mikalai Snapkou replied that officials were trying. Lukashenka responded that they may or may not try, but results must be delivered.
Lukashenka also spoke of what he described as the advantages of dictatorship and called for saving the country’s economy.
“The National Bank and the government must save the economy. Especially since we can. I want to warn you, without frightening anyone. I want you to hear me. I am not threatening anyone. I can work with any person. I can work with everyone here, if you want. If you do not want — the decisions will be harsh.
The dictatorship, which even Trump acknowledged is needed and useful, has always been necessary when there is responsibility, not what we were taught about separation of powers. They divided themselves. Those who wanted to survive, the Chinese, did not divide. They mobilised and worked. And today we have a 900-dollar salary. That is it, guys. Whoever can earn more, let them earn more. We have ensured the minimum to exist normally. Beyond that, you have to spin and hustle,” he said.
At the same government report, Lukashenka also criticised Deputy Prime Minister Natallia Piatkevich and the head of the Academy of Sciences Uladzimir Karanik, recalled 2020 in warning officials, spoke of pressure on the Belarusian economy from the West and the East, and said he did not trust the government on financial and economic matters.
