Фото: пресс-служба Лукашенко
Aliaksandr Lukashenka believes the rise in fuel prices is tolerable. He said this today in Minsk. According to him, people should remember that there is no such thing as free petrol.
“The war started and fuel began to rise in price. It is still bearable here. Everyone comes to refuel here. All those ‘hostile’ states. Of course, I do not consider them enemies. They come to the ‘dictatorship’ to refuel. They do not come from Ukraine, though. Because they have completely closed the border there. Let them come and refuel — we do not mind.
We currently have more favourable conditions. Nevertheless, prices are rising. And that does not depend on us. We did not start the war in the Middle East and we did not block a quarter of natural gas and oil products there in the Strait of Hormuz. But the world is interdependent. Therefore, when buying two or three cars per family, people should remember that there is no free petrol,” he said.
He recalled that Belarus imports most of its oil.
“And everything here depends on that price as well. But so far it is tolerable. Even if prices have increased somewhere, we are controlling it. With that extra kopeck we are trying somehow to raise wages. I know that we are not living richly. But it is possible to live,” he said.
As a reminder, on 28 March Belneftekhim increased retail prices for petrol and diesel fuel by 4 kopecks. From 4 April fuel prices will rise by another 3 kopecks. The prices will be: AI-92 at 2.57 rubles, AI-95 at 2.67 rubles, AI-98 at 2.89 rubles and diesel fuel at 2.67 rubles.