Sasha From The Village Of Kopys

How many palaces did the former chairman of the state farm build for himself?

IHAR KULEI

It has long been no secret that Lukashenka lives in royal luxury, like every dictator. Butlers, cooks, personal pilots and stewardesses. He has numerous guard team so they will not fit together in the hockey arena.

Luxury aircraft, Italian helicopters, the world's most expensive limousines and, of course, palaces. Every normal dictator should live in a palace, and there should be more crystal chandeliers, elite marble and gold. There should be a lot of gold. Let the framing of the furniture be gold and a wall of gold and a golden coat of arms on it! Oh, well, the phone in the office should also be made of gold. Toilet paper holder and the trash can. Well, then let the dampers on the windows in the helicopter also be made of gold. What kind of dictator are you if you don't have enough gold around you?

And we also need to build a palace, and not just one. After all, any baron or duke can have one palace. And a real emperor should have palaces everywhere. And Lukashenka does not limit himself.

The Palace of Independence is 50,000 square meters of luxury. Lukashenka swore that this colossus would not be his residence but he lied. Today it is officially called the residence of Lukashenka, and he does not hide it. He also lied the second time when he said that they would take no money from the construction budget. They took – paid from the budget. Even by the most conservative estimates, the building and its filling cost from several hundred million to half a billion dollars. I specifically looked for how much it costs to build a kindergarten in Belarus. The state newspaper Zviazda indicates a cost of $3.5 million. This means that at the expense of one palace, it was possible to open 140 new kindergartens or to purchase a thousand tomographs and provide each district with them, and there would still be money left for the repair of several dozen hospitals.

There is no money in the budget for this, but there is money for gold cabinets and crystal chandeliers. As there is money for the construction and maintenance of 17 other residences of Lukashenka.

Let's list only the main ones. The estate of Drazdy is spread over 20 hectares with swimming pools, baths, sports complexes and guest cottages. The Azerny Residence in Astrashytski Haradok is another 90 hectares of luxury. Residence Vastok on the bank of the Zaslauski Reservoir with a pier, tennis courts and cryogenic rooms. Also Krasnaselskaye, of course? Thousands of square meters, and again the same tennis courts, ski roller tracks, helipads... Lukashenka has two dozen such palaces. And everywhere stained-glass windows, elite marble and gold….

Remember – a real dictator must have a lot of gold.

And, maybe, if it is enough, everyone around will finally believe in the fairy tale: that you are the “God-Anointed Lifetime Sun King of Belarus”, and not the former head of the collective farm – Sasha from the village of Kopys.

Ihar Kulei, Belsat