Knyrovich: The Mustachioed Miner Should Not Have Entered The War

On the collapse of Belarusian potassium exports.

Former political prisoner, businessman Aliaksandr Knyrovich spoke about Lukashenka’s briefing on the potassium exports.

“A year and a half ago, Klaipeda cut off the possibility of the transhipment of Belarusian potash fertilizers, but our cheerful people from the government were full of optimism. ‘It's worse for you!’ they told,” writes Knyrovich for the Belarus Economy Telegram channel. “‘Well, let's go to Russia,’ they say. ‘Help us, dear allies!’ they were asking.

Our people have been known there for a long time, and they didn’t forget about the arrest of the head of Uralkali in 2013, they have a good memory. Therefore, they said ‘Yes, yes, of course, but there is a problem... there are no freight wagons, and the seaport facilities are busy, sorry.’

And at this moment, our so-called specialists would suspect something and check the data. But - no, they decided to use sideways and build (restore) their own transhipment facilities near St. Petersburg and... in Murmansk.

And even our most important mustachioed miner [dictator Lukashenka - Ed.] went out to the people and said that the issue had been resolved, the (good) sites had been selected, and construction had already begun. The people breathed out.

A year and a half has passed...

Export of potash last year collapsed by 60%, only 4.5 million tons against the usual 10-11 million tons. Logistics through Russia costs 2-5 times more than through Lithuania. The price has also fallen, or rather, returned to pre-war levels and is not going to grow.

And now the same miner is demanding from his subordinates to decide whether we need to build these ports. And Deputy Prime Minister Mikalai Snapkou is dropping his eyes and saying that ‘You need to sit down and count’.

Well, well, a year and a half, probably, they were looking for a calculator. It may have rolled up somewhere...

This week, another Belarusian envoy to the OSCE said that ‘sanctions against Belarusian fertilizers pose a threat of world hunger’. No, they don't create... The world has changed.

In 2015, the share of Belarus in this market was 30%, in 2021 - 17%, in 2022 - 7.5%.

Canada, against the backdrop of the failure of Russia and Belarus, promised to increase output by 22% within 3 years, which will completely cover the lack of Belarusian potassium in the world.

I’m so sorry, dear readers, but what a hell forced the mustachioed to decide on entering this war.

Yes, a calculator is a useful thing…”