Belarus holds parade, defying Covid-19 fears of neighbours

Bloomberg

For the authoritarian president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, a deadly global pandemic is no reason to cancel the country’s military parade marking victory in World War II.
Defying warnings about the risks of letting the coronavirus spread, Lukashenko has summoned troops to the capital, Minsk, for the parade that’s expected to attract thousands of spectators, even after neighbouring states including Russia postponed their planned commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
“We can’t cancel the parade, we just can’t,” the president told officials before the Victory Day celebration, calling it an “emotional” response to honour the war dead. “I am very worried that people won’t approve of
us cowering scared in holes,” he said.
It’s the fate of the living that has made authorities in countries bordering the former Soviet republic nervous about Lukashenko’s refusal to concede ground to the coronavirus. He’s already made Belarus an outlier among states fighting the spread of the disease by refusing to close shops and businesses and order citizens to stay home, as well as imposing few social distancing requirements.
Russia, which imposed a nationwide lockdown at the end of March, hopes the “varying approaches” in Belarus won’t lead to “some kind of explosive growth” in infections, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Lithuania is “closely watching Belarus, concerned that there has been an explosion” of Covid-19 cases there, Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei in a May 5 phone call.
Governments that postponed or changed Victory Day celebrations made a “brave decision” in the interest of public health, World Health Organization Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a video briefing.
“We have a great respect for this historical day, but this is really the time to look for alternative solutions in order not to jeopardise human lives,” he said.
While Lukashenko, 65, has acknowledged the virus can be dangerous, particularly for the elderly, he also dismissed responses to the epidemic as a “psychosis.” He made light of the risks, saying that working on farmland and playing ice hockey could help protect against the illness. As Russia closed its borders to foreigners in March over the virus, Lukashenko declared “It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees.”
“Be patient for a month. If you are stuck with your family — stay with the family,” he said.
Lukashenko has ruled the country of 9.4 million bordering Russia, Ukraine and European Union states since 1994. He is poised to run for his sixth term in elections on August 9 that are largely seen as a foregone conclusion.
Belarus has averaged more than 800 new coronavirus cases per day in the past two weeks, lifting total infections to 21,101 by May 08 with 121 deaths. Among its neighbours, Ukraine, with a population of 42 million, has reported 14,195 cases, Poland has 15,200 infections among its 38 million people and Lithuania has recorded 1,436 cases in its population of 2.8 million people.