Screenshot of an ONT video
MINSK, 12 July (BelTA) – The disruption of economic ties following the collapse of the Soviet Union took a wrecking ball to the Belarusian industry, Sergei Ling, who served as Deputy Prime Minister in 1991-1994 and head of government in 1996-2000, recalled in the ONT documentary “One for All” dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the institution of the presidency in Belarus, BelTA has learned.
Belarus was one of 18 economic regions in the Soviet Union. It inherited 1,500 industrial enterprises that employed 1.5 million people. Belarusian tractors were known in the United States and India, and BelAZ produced 180-tonne dump trucks. But the country simply did not know how to trade on its own, without Moscow as an intermediary.
“Belarus found itself in a dire state because it was an assembly shop [in the Soviet Union], therefore the severance of economic ties dealt a heavy blow to us. Enterprises went bankrupt. Two thousand vehicles made by our BelAZ stood idle in the company’s yard. They would tell me back then: “Let's sell it for a dollar, you don’t need this BelAZ. You see, no one wants to buy its products, it cannot get out of the red.” And I responded: “Wait, don’t take hasty decisions,” said Sergei Ling.
Public figure Yury Voskresensky also shared his memories of this time: “Everyone was excited, everyone wanted change. They were out in the streets, shouted, gathered, set up organizations, political parties. Meanwhile, the country was plunging into the abyss. Smoothly, like the Titanic, it was going down.”
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