MOSCOW, 23 September (BelTA) – Calling to destroy the economy of your own country is akin to suicide, Dmitry Yegorchenkov, the director of the Institute for Strategic Research and Forecasts at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, told BelTA as he commented on the calls of the Belarusian opposition to buy foreign currency to destabilize the ruble, not to pay taxes and utilities, not to buy domestic goods.
“Citizens of Belarus are offered to commit suicide for the sake of some idea,” said Dmitry Yegorchenkov. “They say, let us kill ourselves for the ideals of freedom to shine over the whole of Europe. But no one says: what will happen to Belarus? What will happen to the economy? Will Belarusians have jobs if they collapse their own economy? I strongly doubt that Europe, the beautiful European states, both those neighboring on Belarus and those located a bit farther, are looking forward to the inflow of qualified Belarusian specialists,” he said.
The expert suggested drawing lessons from recent history. “To succumb to these provocations would be like cutting off the nose to spite the face. We have a historical example, a very tragic one, when the population of the Soviet Union succumbed to exactly the same provocations and the country self-destructed de facto. Let us draw the conclusions from these historical lessons,” he said.
“Of course, any person wants to live better. The Belarusians understand very well that this better life will not appear out of the kind words of some young people from Telegram channels. The calls to boycott your own economy completely disqualify the people who are trying to entrench this message into the public consciousness,” stressed Dmitry Yegorchenkov.
