Well I haven't seen any such scenes at all and I have been in the supermarket, the market place and shopping centres quite a fair bit.

I spoke with a really nice woman today when I was at Dududtki, a handicraft village.
She had been a chief economist there, but had retired (at age 55!!!) She gave me the VIP tour of the village, will write about that later.
But later we talked a bit about finances (she started it!!) and she said that her pension was 150 USD per month, but had got a new job despite being past pension age, which paid 800 USD per month. If I understood correctly, her rent was 80 USD per month. No luxury on that salary, but as long as you stay in Belarus and keep it basic, it should be possible to manage on that. She said she was disappointed at the currency devalution but she definitely did not want a revolution. She was actually a Russian, from somewhere in the Urals, but she is now a Belarussian citizen and she thought that Belarus is a better country to live in than Russia, based on her impressions from her annual trip to Russia to see family.

Quote Originally Posted by Eric C. View Post
How can you know that isn't true? Just because it hasn't happened to you? But I told you, exploring a country as a tourist doesn't give you a detail view on such things.
That is true, but the difference is, I have visited and you haven't. I think you should wait to jump to any conclusions. And remember that the people YOU speak with, are precisely the ones that are the most likely to be fed up with the current government. I.e. young well-educated people in Minsk. However they are not in the majority of the population.