The Belarus leader on Tuesday is holding a meeting with the government to discuss regulations for individual entrepreneurs.
The meeting focuses on the presidential edict draft "On some issues that regulate the sale of goods by individual entrepreneurs and other physical persons."
"Some entrepreneurs turned politicians - yet it is difficult to describe them as politicians that represent the interests of entrepreneurs - are trying to blackmail the government, including the president," Intefax-West quotes Aliaksandr Lukashenka as saying. "But I would really not advise you to make such statements in the media, because it can backfire against you. It makes no sense to intimidate me."
Lukashenka's statement comes in response to the letter from Perspektyva, a public association of entrepreneurs, which asked the president not to sign his edict that envisages mandatory accompanying documents for private entrepreneurs. Under this document, individual entrepreneurs who pay a fixed tax from retail sales are obliged to transport, store and sell goods on the basis of the documents that justify the purchase of goods. Such documents are virtually impossible to get from contractors in Russia.
According to Perspektyva leader Anatol Shumchanka, entrepreneurs told Aliaksandr Lukashenka in their letter that the edict would affect dozens of thousand entrepreneurs and their families in Belarus. These people "are ready for protests at the local level". The letter
