‘No place in country for you’. Lukashenka warns against poor performance at European Games

Alyaksandr Lukashenka delivered a stern warning to top sports officials about the country’s performance at the Second European Games.

“The nation can’t wait to see your results. When will there be medals?” he asked Sports Minister Syarhei Kavalchuk.

“The Second European Games will be the first event ar which the country will see good performance,” the minister answered.

“Let’s talk man-to-man. God forbid, you [Belarusian athletes] make a poor showing at the European Games, there will be no place in the country for you. Neither for you nor for Dzevyatouski [chairman of the Belarusian Association of Athletics] or others,” the Belarusian leader warned.”

The 2nd European Games will be held in Minsk in June 21-30, 2019. For the first time it took place in 2015 in Baku; it was started rolling by Lukashenka’s close friend, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, who definitely wants it to run and run. However, holding the event will cost Belarusians $30-40 mln.

However, it may face the boycott on the part of Germany due to the pressure on independent media. On August 7, an unprecedented wave of media workers’ arrests started in Belarus over the so-called BelTA case. Deutsche Welle correspondent Paulyuk Bykouski was among the detainees.

ДР belsat.eu