Screenshots from STV TV video
MINSK, 2 November (BelTA) – Valery Kiriyenko, former director general of the Belarusian potash producer Belaruskali (2009-2014) recounted his meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko in the Our People [Svoi] project on the STV TV channel, BelTA learned.
The first meeting with the head of state took place in 2001. The company was in a transitional stage and Valery Kiriyenko, being the chief engineer, acted as the head of Belaruskali. He was surprised by the president's decision to go down into the mine. The program of the president’s trip did not imply this.
Valery Kiriyenko said that he felt absolutely calm while talking to Aleksandr Lukashenko. “I spoke my mind. He is a man of common sense. Being the president, he has a better understanding of what needs to be done. He left an impression of a down-to-earth person,” the head of the enterprise said.
“We were in a low-capacity longwall. It was very low, about 1.10m. We had to crawl on our knees to reach the machine. The foreman was waiting for us there. The president was crawling, too. The whole delegation did the same,” Valery Kiriyenko added.
Aleksandr Lukashenko talked to the foreman too. The head of state asked him: “Will you have me on your team?” The foreman replied: “You, Aleksandr Grigoriyevich, is too tall to work in this longwall. But you have a character of a miner. After all, you were not afraid to descend here.”
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