{"id":518585,"date":"2026-02-17T21:39:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T18:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=518585"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T08:30:21","slug":"kolya-criticises-lukashenka-over-street-lighting-switch-offs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/kolya-criticises-lukashenka-over-street-lighting-switch-offs","title":{"rendered":"Kolya Criticises Lukashenka Over Street Lighting Switch-Offs"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Aliaksandr Lukashenka<\/b>, during the government\u2019s 2025 report, returned to the issue of street lighting and said he had been scolded over it by his youngest son Mikalai Lukashenka<\/b>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Several days later, Lukashenka returned to the issue and objected to comparisons of Belarus with Ukraine because of the darkness. \u201cThen I thought: where did this topic come from? The runaways\u2019 IPSO. They threw it in from there \u2014 from space \u2014 and compared us with Ukraine. How can you compare us, a \u2018totalitarian\u2019 state, with \u2018democratic\u2019 Ukraine? You have to think about what you are doing,\u201d<\/i> he said on 6 February.<\/p>\n

He said on Tuesday that it was Mikalai who had shown him satellite images of Belarus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey highlighted it, I said \u2014 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. \u2018Why do you need this?\u2019 he says. \u2018Was this necessary? Here, Ukraine, and here, Belarus. Two holes in the world,\u2019 he says. Darkness,\u201d<\/i> Lukashenka said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were running their IPSO: \u2018Ah, he gave the order, you see.\u2019 And then, look, they called me a loser \u2014 said I had retreated. I did not advance and I did not retreat. How long will this continue?\u201d<\/i> Lukashenka said.<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister Mikalai Snapkou<\/b> replied that officials were trying. Lukashenka responded that they may or may not try, but results must be delivered.<\/p>\n

Lukashenka also spoke of what he described as the advantages of dictatorship and called for saving the country\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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 \u2014 the decisions will be harsh.<\/i><\/p>\n

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,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

At the same government report, Lukashenka also criticised Deputy Prime Minister Natallia Piatkevich<\/b> and the head of the Academy of Sciences Uladzimir Karanik<\/b>, 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aliaksandr Lukashenka, during the government\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":518584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/699578a1a6bd9.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Kolya Criticises Lukashenka Over Street Lighting Switch-Offs"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}