Political analyst Pyotr Petrovsky spoke about Poland’s so-called disastrous five-year period on Radio Minsk on May 20, 2025:
“These five years in Poland’s economy and politics have shown negative results. First, the lockdown meant a 5% drop in GDP. Second, 2022 brought sweeping sanctions against Belarus and Russia, along with a refusal to buy energy and raw materials. That year, too, saw zero economic growth."
In 2020, Poland’s GDP didn’t fall by 5% but by 2.2%. The next two years saw steady growth: 6.9% in 2021 and 5.3% in 2022. It was actually 2023, not 2022 as Petrovsky stated, that was nearly flat, with growth at just 0.1%. Over five years, Poland’s economy grew by more than 13%.
During the same five-year span, Belarus’ economy grew by just 5.1%—almost three times less—even though it had no pandemic restrictions in 2020 and gained easier access to the Russian market.
The day after his appearance on Radio Minsk, on May 21, Pyotr Petrovsky discussed Poland’s supposed problems with SB. Belarus Today staffer Lyudmila Gladkaya on SB TV. He claimed that wages in Poland are only slightly higher than in Belarus.
“Yes, they might say the average salary is higher in Poland. Fine. The average salary here is 2,000, there it’s 3,000,” the analyst said.
“Well, let’s compare expenses, then,” Gladkaya suggested.
“A Polish resident might spend 1,500 on rent, leaving another 1,500—and, mind you, gas doesn’t cost 2.5 rubles a liter, it’s €2.5. That’s in the best-case scenario,” Petrovsky argued.
It’s not clear from Petrovsky’s remarks which currency he meant when discussing salaries. In Belarus, the average monthly wage in the last quarter of 2024 was nearly 2,500 Belarusian rubles, or about €700. In Poland, an average salary of 3,000 zlotys—or about €750 at the 2010 exchange rate—was typical more than 15 years ago. In 2025, even the minimum wage is higher than that. In 2024, the average take-home salary in Poland was about 7,200 zlotys, or roughly €1,700. That’s two and a half times higher than in Belarus.
As for gasoline, a liter of 95-octane in Belarus cost 75 euro cents in May 2025. In Poland, it is €1.35—not €2.50, as Petrovsky claimed. This means the average Polish salary can buy about 1,260 liters of gasoline, while the average Belarusian wage covers about 950 liters.
