Pavel Latushko: Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Ambassador
The dictator recently held a meeting on the development of the tobacco industry. According to the usurper, the conditions in this area have now changed and "today's trends cannot but be alarming".
Things are bad for the dictator: income from cigarette sales is falling. People in Belarus have started smoking less cigarettes, and for some reason the dictator, who in words advocates a healthy lifestyle, does not like this. In connection with the decline in his income from cigarette sales in Belarus, he even thought about banning vapes that compete with his business or even taking this area under the control of Lukashenko's "family".
In addition, on the day of the meeting, Lukashenko received news that Polish customs had discovered 5,400 packs of Belarusian cigarettes in tanks with resin transported across the border of Belarus and Poland.
For the purpose of personal enrichment, Lukashenko built a real tobacco business empire with the help of his pocket businessmen like Topuzidis and Aleksin. The latter was even given a near-monopoly on domestic trade in tobacco products through a retail network of kiosks, popularly known as "tabakerki". Lukashenko simply took and transferred the state's right to some private individual, shifting budget revenues intended for all Belarusians into the pocket of his personal "wallet".
And he does this for the sake of personal enrichment and the enrichment of his entourage. That is why Lukashenko asks his appointees "how are things with cigarette exports?" And with exports, both legal and black, which is more simply called smuggling, things are getting sadder and sadder every year.
And why is that? Because the dictator is having serious problems both in the western and eastern directions.
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