On Wednesday, June 3, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko fired the government of the republic. The press service of the head of state also confirmed this information.

“The corresponding decree of the head of state will come into force after official publication,” RIA Novosti reports.

According to the official website of the President of Belarus, Lukashenko held a meeting to discuss proposals for a new cabinet. It was attended by Chairperson of the Council of the Republic Natalia Kochanova, Chairperson of the House of Representatives Vladimir Andreichenko, Head of the Presidential Administration Igor Sergeyenko and State Secretary of the Security Council Andrei Ravkov.

“I have already spoken about this. And I gave such instructions, you all dealt with these issues. When my statement was made that always on the eve of the election, the incumbent president determined the government in advance so that people, voting for or against, would understand who would deal with pressing issues related to their life, the socio-economic development of our state, ”Lukashenko said.

He noted that “a revolution should not be expected” after a change in the composition of the government. According to him, due to the fact that “the world has entered a period of unprecedented economic crisis” due to the pandemic of the coronavirus infection COVID-19, large-scale changes in the Cabinet are undesirable.

“Yes, and there is no such need. A new generation of leaders has grown up who have shown themselves well and worked well in the government. Why change them? They can work, ”said the head of state. “Those who cannot cope with such volumes today in this crisis period, of course, they need to be replaced and sent to another job,” the Belarusian leader said.

  • Government building of Belarus
  • Reuters
  • © Vasily Fedosenko

Lukashenko also added that in the current crisis period it is necessary to act more actively in order to minimize economic losses.

“I have already said: the global crisis is reflected in Belarus. It’s good that we turned out like this, got out of the pandemic in this situation, did not stop production. If we stopped, we would never have started this production. It could only happen in a fairy tale, ”he said.

The President of Belarus asked the participants of the meeting, as they had already held a series of consultations, having studied new candidates, to express their point of view both in the government as a whole and on specific candidates.

“At the same time, I want there to be no rumors, to remind you that we started a long time ago to form the composition of the future government, as was thought and thought then. Probably about six months ago, ”Lukashenko said, recalling that even then new ministers appeared.

At the end of May, the President of Belarus announced that a new government would be formed before the presidential election, which will be held in August. Lukashenko assured that he has no claim to anyone regarding his work, however, “life goes on, and there must be changes,” while he expressed confidence that the backbone of the government would be preserved. In his opinion, the renewal of the Cabinet is associated with the need to increase the confidence of voters - "so that people see who we will work with."

"But the fact that? ... The elections have passed, people have voted for you ... And you are either pulling relatives, loved ones, relatives or others into this government, ”Lukashenka said at a meeting on pressing issues on May 25.

The government of Belarus from August 18, 2018 was headed by Sergey Rumas, who succeeded Andrei Kobyakov after the key development tasks in the Orsha district of the Vitebsk region were not completed. The Belarusian leader then said that the new Prime Minister was involved in the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and "knows Russia well."

The presidential election in Belarus is scheduled for August 9, 2020. At the moment, in addition to Lukashenko, there are 13 initiative groups that will need to collect at least 100 thousand signatures in order for the CEC to register their candidates.

Lukashenko will run for president of Belarus for the sixth time in a row. He has been in office since 1994. In the spring of 2019, explaining his decision to again participate in the elections, the head of state said that he did not want accusations of cowardice and that they would say about him that he “escaped” in difficult times