State money allocated to support athletics must be spent properly, the country’s president has declared
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has called for the exclusion of personal expenses from state funds earmarked for promoting sports. Instead, he has urged top government officials to fund their “mistresses” with their own money.
Speaking on Friday at a meeting focused on support for physical culture and sports organizations, the Belarusian leader told officials to report on various issues, including oversight of state funds allocated to national sports clubs and federations.
“I want to warn you, guys, it’s not hard these days to track how this money is being spent – and we will track it,” Lukashenko cautioned.
“But I want to say, man to man, that you should support your family, loved ones, mistresses, or anyone else with your own money. That will be the right thing to do – both humanely and manfully,” the president added, noting that officials can earn money wherever they want.
Lukashenko expressed hope that his comments would prompt officials to draw the right conclusions.
“The real question is: how fairly – and more importantly, how responsibly – are clubs managing these funds? Or are they just blindly using them? What exactly are the finances being spent on?” he asked.
Combating corruption was one a key theme of Lukashenko’s presidential campaign ahead of an election held in January. In early February, the Central Election Commission declared the 70-year-old politician the winner with 86.82% of the vote. None of the other candidates received more than 5%.
In December, upon appointing Ruslan Chernetsky as Minister of Culture, the Belarusian leader expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the country’s film industry.
“I just want to say man-to-man, Ruslan – you have no other choice: either die, or bring order to the sector,” Lukashenko said at the time.
