The uniqueness of Belarus is that the economic component in the consciousness of the people is not the main thing. What I mean is that when we developed our pre-electoral campaign for our candidate as president candidate, the impact of such things as the crisis, which in another country would be the determining factor, for us was not so. There were other issues.
The history of this people is made up of poverty. People remember the fear and the horror that their fathers, grandfathers, and ancestors lived through, and as for what Lukashenko is talking about, the possibility of eating and having a roof over their heads, they don't see this. They see this as, I don't know, maybe a sign of prosperity If you look at the richness of Canada, only 99% can see what's happening in Canada; maybe 0.9% have ever been to Canada. So it's not the national consciousness we're talking about: it's self-awareness, the awareness that they need to survive.
In our company, we tell the truth. We put aside the issues of political power and the economy. We talk to them about one thing: we say they are telling you that you live well, we show them our fingernail, and we say that's what you get, that little bit, and we ask them how much they tell them that they give them. They say, “They give us this much, a whole bag full”. It's not true.
No, it's not true. There's a joke that was made up by the people themselves. They ask a Belarusian what country he would like to live in. He says Belarus, and they say, “But that's where you live”. He says, “No, I want to live in the Belarus they show on TV”.
There is a disconnect between the propaganda on TV and what people are actually living in their economy. People are sick and tired of the lies. They're constantly lying and humiliating people. They don't listen to people's conscience and they don't respect the basic human values, so these are very painful, painful issues. This is what we work on in our campaign.
As for self-awareness and the relationship with Russia, it never changes. It's a constant. It's 50% toward Russia. Maybe 40% look to the west, 60%...well, it's a factor that you have to take into account. There is a real Soviet history here. Russia and Belarus were always sisters. They always helped each other, but in reality, there was never a history of endless warfare.