08 July 2025, 18:25

Expert names key difference in approaches of Belarus and Russia to doing business

Nikolai Platoshkin. Frame grab of BelTA's video

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MINSK, 8 July (BelTA) – In the latest episode of the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel, Doctor of Historical Sciences Nikolai Platoshkin shared his thoughts on the key difference in approaches of Belarus and Russia to doing business.

Speaking about the Soviet Union’s legacy in manufacturing, Nikolai Platoshkin recalled a story that occurred at the Siberian Field Day, a major agricultural machinery exhibition. “It is held in Barnaul every summer. The Gomel plant was there, MTZ. And suddenly I saw wheeled tractors, similar to yours; I had never seen them before. I asked about their country of origin. Those were from China and they had been there for two years. I had never heard anything about Chinese wheeled tractors before. They made it in two years. They say they copied everything from the Italians. So they will soon oust us,” the historian said.

“Governments should not be afraid of investing money [in manufacturing], because, as they say, if you don’t feed your army, you’ll feed someone else’s. The same here - if you don’t help your manufacturers, you’ll help the Chinese, the German ones. Why? Let this money stay here in the form of taxes, social benefits and everything else,” said Nikolai Platoshkin. He added that the attitude of business people to this issue is also important.

In this context, he also highlighted the difference between Belarus and Russia: “You simply don’t have oligarchs. There are entrepreneurs, the government helps them even more than our government helps some industries here. But no one gives them the right to make political decisions or influence the course of political events. It’s none of their business with whom we should trade. They should have exactly as many political rights as you and I do – and they should exercise them at polling stations. That’s it. When big business stops interfering in the decision-making process, you will be surprised to see how far we will advance,” concluded Nikolai Platoshkin.