During a presser yesterday 28 June, Alexander Lukashenko revealed the details of the deal with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin that helped end the mutiny in Russia, stating that he talked with the Wagner boss back from brink.
Belarus President A.Lukashenko said he made ten times emotional expletive-laden phone calls with more swear words than normal words to end the mutiny. He (Lukashenko) ‘told Prigozhin, halfway to Moscow, “they will squash you like a bug” to which Wagner boss replied “we want justice, they want to strangle us, we will march on Moscow”
Lukashenko also stated that he urged Putin not to kill Wagner boss but “we could waste him, no problem. If not on the first try, then on the second, do not do this.” The Belarus President said if Russia falls, we will be buried under its wreckage. Prigozhin and the Russian defence minister feud made ‘Putin and I guilty of not acting in due time’
Finally Wagner arrived in Belarus and Lukashenko offered Prigozhin an abandoned military base which borders with 3 NATO members-Poland, Lithuania and Lativa. While NATO says it is ready to defend against Moscow, or Minsk adding that some member states are tracking the events anxiously.
However Luthuania President warned that if the Wagner gets comfortable in Belarus, the region could be immersed in insecurity,
“If Wagner deploys its serial killers in Belarus, all neighboring countries face even greater danger of instability,” said President Gitanas Nausėda.
US State Department Spokesperson said Lukashenko is choosing interests of Putin and Kremlin over interests of Belarusian people and Wagner is a destabilizing agent everywhere he goes. Lukashenko, seen as Putin’s junior partner & Europe’s last dictator, is positioning himself as the voice of reason.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Prigozhin, has arrived in Belarus.
He said he offered the mercenary group an abandoned military site where they could “put their tents while thinking what to do next”.
Lukashenko is said to have brokered a deal which narrowly prevented Wagner mercenaries from marching on Moscow after the private army mutinied against Russia’s military leaders.