When making personnel decisions on March 31st, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko appointed Aleksei Kushnarenko to the post of Chairman of the Minsk Regional Executive Committee. Denis Morozov was appointed the new Energy Minister.
Explaining his choice of candidates for the posts of governor, the Head of State said, “People may think, why not agrarians?… I would like to see what we get if the regions are run by non-agricultural specialists. And Karayev [Yuri Karayev – the new Governor of the Grodno Region] is acing agriculture, though he worked for five years as Aide [to the President – inspector for the Grodno Region].”
The Head of State also recalled his visit to the Gazovik-Sipakovo agricultural enterprise, during which he literally questioned Aleksei Kushnarenko about the enterprise’s work and ‘noticed in his eyes’ that agriculture was not alien to him, “I have been watching your work ever since. And I thought that these simple rural people would be to your liking.”