"Groundhog Day" At The "Gorodets" Collective Farm

7.11.2026, 10:20

The dictator is not very confident that the venture will succeed.

In the fall of 2025 Lukashenko paid a visit to “Gorodets”—a former state farm in the Shklov District that he headed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was clearly not pleased with what he saw: “It’s sad, of course. This is the worst farm I’ve seen in the last two years.”

Had this been any other collective farm, the officials would have gotten off with the usual dressing-down—complete with mentions of handcuffs and the standard lecture on mismanagement.

But this was an enterprise where Lukashenko “once served as director.” Therefore, the level of directives was commensurate. Everyone involved was tasked with “restoring perfect order by spring.” The government-controlled press promised “Gorodets” a renaissance.

And—miracle of miracles! Barely over a year had passed when the promised renaissance came to pass. On November 5, 2026, the governor returned to “Gorodets.” This time, his impressions were quite different: “This is a resort. Thank God I didn’t have this—I wouldn’t have become ‘president.’ I would never have left this farm if I’d had all this.”

What was the cost of transforming the “worst farm” into a “resort”? In May 2026, the shares of CJSC “ASB-Agro Gorodets” were transferred to the economic management of RUE “Mogilevoblgaz,” according to BELTA.

The comprehensive modernization program for the agricultural enterprise for 2026–2027 calls for funding of approximately 86.5 million rubles.

And this is despite the fact that “Gorodets” had previously been “revived” twice at the expense of the state budget—during the era of the Byelorussian SSR, when a young Lukashenko took its helm, and later during his years in power as part of the State Program for the Revival and Development of Rural Areas.

A resort is a resort, but the ruler has little confidence in the enterprise’s success.

Far more important than his enthusiasm at what he saw was another remark made in his parting words to the head of “Gorodets”: “I’ve outlined the task, I’ve laid out the plan. If it’s not done—off to Khrenin, the Minister of Defense. They’ll be digging the ground and sleeping in tents this winter. Discipline must be ironclad—this isn’t my invention. There is no other way.”

In other words, it’s possible to use the people’s money to get the country’s worst economy back on its feet, but it’s much harder—if even possible—to make the people there work effectively.

Artem Sinitsyn, “Solidarnast”

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