Aliaksandr Lukashenka has ordered that anyone unwilling to work during the harvest campaign be sent to the army. He said such people should serve under the Special Operations Forces on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, according to his press service.
“Why should we be putting handcuffs on people when we have a labour shortage? Ask Khrenin and pass on my instruction: everyone who does not know how to work should go into the army and be sent to the southern border. Into the forest. Our Special Operations Forces have been deployed along the Ukrainian border on my orders.
That does not mean we are going to attack anyone. We are not attacking anyone; we are ensuring our own security. It is not easy there — mosquitoes, flies, midges and everything else. Send them there, into the army. As ordinary soldiers. One week of training—with a grenade launcher and a machine gun—and then assign them to the Special Operations Forces,” Lukashenka said during a government conference call on 21 July.
According to Lukashenka, all government officials should take part in the harvest campaign, and anyone refusing to do so should serve in the army.
“Send everyone there who fails to carry out the instructions. This is my order. Any official—in the government, regional executive committee or district executive committee—should be sent to a farm to work on a tractor or combine harvester. Don’t know how to turn a wrench? Then you’ll be an assistant, carrying the ‘ammunition’. Any failure to comply means the army. Let them serve there. They can sit in the forest. They need personnel there as well. Let them serve there during the harvest campaign. Officials, and anyone else who does not want to work,” Lukashenka said.
Lukashenka also called for strict discipline and accused law enforcement agencies of protecting those involved in fuel theft.
