Minsk shops abandon Saint George ribbons on Victory Day
Euroopt discounter calls off the Ribbon of Saint George action, while ProStore hypermarket stops hand-outs in line with management's order.
“No comment. The issue may cause negative reaction. People have been phoning us and asking about it since yesterday,” the advertisement department of the mutistore explained.
The action Ribbon of Saint George announced by the multistore on May 6 has been cancelled, Euroradio found out. Euroopt wanted to hire young people for distributing ribbons earlier. They were supposed to get Br25 thousand per hour for their work.
The multistore organized similar actions dated for the Victory Day in the past few years. However, Euroopt’s advertisement actions did not draw such a wide response back then.
The red and green symbols are also disappearing from GUM. One ribbon has remained on the signboard above the entrance – all the other small flags have been changed to red and green with the neutral inscription ‘Happy Holidays!’.
The chain of supermarkets ProStore was one of the first to start giving out orange-black ribbons. However, they have already stopped doing it, employees of one of the supermarkets told Euroradio two days before May 9.
“We have stopped distributing them. It was the administration’s order. Maybe we will resume the distribution of ribbons of Saint George later… I do not know the reason for it. We have simply been ordered to stop distributing them.”
Festive posters with ribbons of Saint George can still be found in Minsk – in one of the cafes and in a bookshop between Independent Square and October Square. If the ribbons keep disappearing from Minsk at this rate, it will only be possible to see them on Russians’ cars soon.
