Last week, President Lukashenko met with entrepreneurs at Expobel shopping centre and allowed them to trade without quality certificates until January 1st, 2016.
In addition, he warned them against becoming involved in politics and advised to work more transparently. Private entrepreneurs have low protest potential and capacity for solidarity actions and prefer to adapt to the conditions imposed by the authorities. Nevertheless, amid events in Ukraine, the Belarusian authorities are afraid of any manifestation of social tension in society and demonstrate willingness to engage in dialogue with society ahead of the presidential election. Most likely, most entrepreneurs might not provide any assistance to the opposition during the 2015 election campaign.
