“Modest” dictator lives in palace and uses Maybach

Aliaksandr Lukashenka urged officials to live modestly.

However, he himself prefers luxury holidays, wears an expensive watch and owns a posh Maybach.

“We exert and will continue to exert great, enormous pressure on the state machinery and officials to make them serve the people, discourage them from stealing and encourage them to live modestly,” the ruler said on July 1 at a solemn meeting on occasion of the official independence day.

Lukashenka, however, is from being an ascetic person. Salidarnasts recalls just few well-known examples that demonstrate what the head of state couldn't refuse to “live modestly”.

He didn't refuse trips to luxury resorts, like the one in the Swiss Alps that he visited on the invitation of then president of the local National Olympic Committee with all expenses paid from the Austrian budget in 2002. Austrian journalist Erwin Roth published the bills in 2010 showing that the holidays of the Belarusian delegation cost 200,000 euros.

A 7 star hotel in Abu Dhabi where Lukashenka stayed in 2007 on the invitation of the sheikh

He didn't refuse an expensive watch. Barack Obama wears a $325 watch, while Lukashenka has a Patek Philippe Calatrava 5120j worth $17,000, which is eight times more thatn his official salary.

He didn't refuse a posh car he received from a person whose name is kept secret from public. Asked by journalists about his new car, Lukashenka answered: “Frankly speaking, this Maybach is my birthday present from one Russian.”

He didn't refuse the residence in Sochi on the territory of the recreation centre “Belarus”.

He didn't refuse a Boeing 767 that earlier belonged to the president of Turkmenistan. The aircraft is said to have been bought by Belarus for $100 million. It is said that the plane is equipped with white leather seats and sofas, fine wood paneling, golden curtains and a bejeweled shower.

He didn't refuse a new huge residence quickly constructed on Peramozhtsau Avenue, one of Minsk's main traffic arteries, and the State Flag Square that will be officially opened on July 2.

It is not the full list of the things the man, who calls on others to be modest, didn't refuse to have.