Updated at 17:53,27-03-2024

Leonid Gozman: I really hope that our people are smarter than Lukashenko

UDF.BY

Former co-chair of the "Right Cause" party, Leonid Gozman in an interview to Russian News Service compared Vladimir Putin's campaign promises with the generosity of Alexander Lukashenko on the eve of the 2010 presidential election.

"There Lukashenko before his elections on 19 December, they were held on December 19, 2010, and there were also protests like ours, may be even tougher, so, Lukashenko gave a wild amount of promises, raised everyone's salaries, raised pensions, raised military allowances - dispensed completely everything. What was the result? Less than two-three months passed, as their currency collapsed, as the actual devaluation happened, horrible inflation, shortage of goods in shops, 2 kg of sugar per customer, and so on. I really hope that our people are smarter than Alexander Lukashenko. Nevertheless, they have some education, someone knows languages, in general, not completely Lukashenko or some kind of Hugo Chavez", Russian politician said.

Therefore, according to Leonid Gozman, repetition of "the Belarusian variant" won't happen in Russia, though, he says, "the situation is, of course, complex and populist promises before the elections have never ended in a good way".