The Travellist Issue 2 March 2015 | Page 13

Anton Trafimovich • 10 Reasons to Visit Belarus 4 THE LAST ANTI-CAPITALIST EUROPEAN STATE If you want to eat a “real” hamburger when in Belarus, you can go to one of eight McDonalds. Not eighty, not eight hundred, but eight! There are no Burger Kings nor KFCs. No Starbucks in Belarus neither. Walking around Minsk city center you will never see any familiar brands. Just a couple of Russian and Baltic food chains you might recognize. The reason is that the government creates really complex regulations for foreign capital to be invested in the Belarusian economy. This is why only the Russians, the Chinese and the guys from Middle East flourish here. They know the special rules that Westerners do not. This makes Belarus attractive to left-leaning people and communists. March 2015 11