Belarus President’s Speech Leads to International Striptease

“Innovations, IT-technologies, privatisation — it is all clear. We’ve conquered all of them. But everything is very simply, one should get undressed and work,” Lukashenko said during a speech on the economy.

The president meant to say “develop themselves,” but the phrase closely translates to “get undressed” in Russian — the language spoken by 72% of the population. Just over 10% of the population speak Belarusian, despite it being the official language.

Thousands of Belarusians mocked his statement by getting naked at work and posting photos to social media using the hashtag #раздеватьсяиработать (#getnakedatwork).

“The president said this was necessary,” one Instagram user remarked.

Hiding their private areas with various work supplies, including everything from laptops to slabs of concrete, workers from a variety of fields stripped down across the nation, causing the racy, viral flashmob to go viral globally.