Reporting nearly 9,600 COVID-19 cases and 67 virus-related fatalities, Belarus has remained one of the few countries in the industrialized world to resist widespread lockdown and self-quarantine measures, preferring a ‘pinpoint' strategy to tackling the virus instead.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has gotten a name for himself for his outspoken statements about the coronavirus, traveled to the Pripyatsky National Park, about 250 km from the epicenter of the Chernobyl exclusion zone in neighbouring Ukraine on Saturday to plant trees as part of the country's annual ‘community labour' day events.
In a video of the event put out by the president's press service, Lukashnko, an active outdoorsman, can be seen walking through a field, holding a tree-planting bar, with two blue buckets attached to his waist – one containing pine saplings, and the other a small dog. A female assistant in military fatigues is seen helping him in the planting process.
The president took part in the event as part of Belarus's republic-wide ‘subbotnik', a once-a-year day of volunteer community labour in which as many as 2.5 million Belarusians are said to have taken part.
Similar scenes could be seen across the country, as residents engaged in community cleanup efforts, planted trees, and engaged in other forms of labour to tidy up their neighbourhoods and parks.
Formed in 1996, the Pripyatsky…
