Ilya Repin's "Barge Haulers On The Volga," 1870-1873 Google Images The FT's Isabel Gorst reports Belarus will no longer allow farm laborers to leave their jobs if they want to move to the city.

This is also known as serfdom.

"Yesterday, a decree was put on my table concerning – we are speaking bluntly – serfdom,” Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko told a meeting on Tuesday to discuss improvements to livestock farming, gazeta.ru reported.

Lukashenko is seeking to curb urban migration, and is notoriously obsessed with farming, Gorst says. He has said he hopes the decree would “teach the peasants to work more efficiently,” and that regional governors who failed to ensure timely and efficient harvests in their regions would be dismissed.

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