Belarus is still open for business.

Alone among European countries to shrug off the Covid-19 preventative measures that have put economies across the continent into hibernation, the Belarusian government has insisted the country is all but immune to the pandemic, claiming there are a mere 860 cases in a country of nine and a half million.

Since reporting its first cases of coronavirus in early March, President Alexander Lukashenko has only doubled down on his proclamation that “the most dangerous epidemic is panic.” By keeping businesses open and urging the security services — still operating under their Soviet-era name, the KGB — to investigate those spreading false information about the pandemic, Lukashenko has sent a clear message that he intends to keep the country open. 

The decision was a gamble by authorities who can’t expect a bailout from the West or international organizations to help its economy which was already in deep recession. “Belarus is a very poor country and it cannot rely on anyone,” said Ryhor Astapenia, a fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House. “They understand that they can’t afford a lockdown.”