Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
As global death tolls continue to surge, you’d have to be a total loon to flex on this pandemic, and a menacing sociopath to do so while you are leading 9.5 million people.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko may be one of the most dangerous men in the world at the moment, as he continues to question the severity of the virus while running his former Soviet state business as usual.
Lukashenko even attended a packed hockey match on Saturday while insisting the virus has devolved the entire world into a “psychosis.”
“It’s better to die standing that to live on your knees,” he said, quoting the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, and calling sports “the best anti-virus remedy”.
“There are no viruses here,” he said of the ice rink after his game, insisting, “I don’t see them.” [via The New York Post]
'It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees'
Aleksander Lukashenko, pres of Belarus, only country in Europe with active football league despite #COVIDー19 fears, says cold is 'perfect environment to repel virus' while playing ice hockeypic.twitter.com/lA6roVJlTe
— Danny Armstrong (@DannyWArmstrong) March 30, 2020
Lukashenko, who has been the target of several sanctions imposed by the E.U. and United States for human rights violations, scoffed at the virus via The London Times:
“The world has gone mad from the coronavirus,” he said. “This psychosis has crippled national economies almost everywhere in the world.”
The remedy, according to Belarus’s fearless leader: get hammered, go in the sauna, and drive a fucking tractor.
“People should not only wash their hands with vodka but also poison the virus with it.”
“You should drink the equivalent of 40-50 milliliters of rectified spirit daily. But not at work,” he reportedly said.
“When you come out of the sauna, not only wash your hands, but also your insides with 100 milliliters [of vodka].”
Lukashenko has kept open borders, theaters and entertainment venues, and bustling markets and helms the only country in Europe that has continued top-flight soccer.
Belarus Premier League attracts global attention as it plays on despite coronavirus https://t.co/9Ikwnop5vo pic.twitter.com/tqVtKhGqLO
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 29, 2020
You can’t really blame him if all you have to do to cure the disease is work in a village.
“You just have to work, especially now, in a village. Tractors will cure everyone! The field heals everyone!” he said.
Belarus reportedly has 100 cases and no confirmed deaths, but one has to question the validity of these numbers coming from a total dumbass.