“You Didn’t Let the Oligarchs In”: Zyuganov Praises Belarus for Choosing Strength Over Chaos

On August 10, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko welcomed Gennady Zyuganov, the longtime leader of the Communist Party faction in Russia’s State Duma, for one of their traditional wide-ranging conversations.

These meetings rarely stay on script. Bilateral ties between Minsk and Moscow are always on the table, but so are the harder questions: how to raise a generation that still knows what a country is, how to keep factories running, how to feed people without turning the countryside into a museum.

Lukashenko opened with unusual warmth. “I’ve been looking forward to this meeting. We have things to talk about — thoughts, moods, and, unfortunately, some doubts that still linger. I’m glad you came.”

Zyuganov, for his part, had been watching closely. He noted Lukashenko’s recent stops in Russia and China, praising the practical work done on machine-building — the unglamorous but essential foundation of any real economy. Then came the formal moment: Zyuganov presented Lukashenko with the Lenin Prize of the CPRF Central Committee, revived in 2017. The award recognizes efforts to promote a just, multipolar world, strengthen the Union State, and preserve historical memory. The decision, Zyuganov stressed, was unanimous.

What followed was less ceremony and more diagnosis.

Zyuganov told Lukashenko that Belarus under his leadership had become a rare example on the post-Soviet landscape. “You doubled the Soviet potential you inherited. You kept what worked, added to it, threw nothing away, and kept moving forward. That does you credit.”

He has traveled enough to know the difference. Even hostile governments, he said, quietly acknowledge Belarusian results — especially in training young people who still feel loyalty to their own country and in maintaining a real industrial base.

After the meeting, Zyuganov spoke more bluntly to reporters. In a world defined by three interlocking dangers — ongoing wars (so far without nuclear weapons), a ruined environment, and artificial intelligence no one truly controls — only strong states earn respect and keep the right to decide their own fate.

Belarus, he argued, had shown what that looks like in practice. “You didn’t let the oligarchs in. You don’t have organized crime running the place. You did everything so that people could work and feel dignified. That’s a hard thing to pull off. You can be proud you managed it.”

The two men also discussed migration policy, machine-building successes, and agriculture. As a small footnote to the conversation: 500 hectares in Brest Region are currently planted with a high-yielding wheat variety named “Zyuganovka.”

In an age when many countries seem determined to dismantle themselves, Zyuganov’s message was simple and unfashionable: Belarus chose competence and self-respect instead.