Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has announced that he convinced the Russian President not to get rid of Yevgeny Prigozhin when the latter staged a mutiny, writes Reuters.
Putin initially wanted to suppress the military mutiny, comparing it to the uprising that started the revolution in 1917 and then the civil war. A few hours later, an agreement was reached to allow Prigozhin and some fighters to go to Belarus.
Describing the conversation with Putin that took place on Saturday, the 24th of June,
Lukashenko used a slang phrase of Russian criminals, which denotes the murder of a person,
corresponding to the concept of “wipe out”.
Lukashenko allegedly called on Putin to take his time and try to talk with Prigozhin and the Wagnerian commanders. Putin allegedly replied: “Listen, Sasha, it’s useless. He doesn’t even pick up the phone, he doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”
The Kremlin has not commented on Lukashenko’s remarks,
which provided a rare glimpse into the Kremlin’s negotiations at a time when, in Putin’s words, Russia is headed for the chaos of a civil war.
Lukashenko is both a long-time acquaintance of Prigozhin and a close ally of Putin and indicated that he advised the Russian president to take a broader view and made him think that killing Prigozhin could provoke riots among his fighters. In addition, Lukashenko believes that the Wagnerian experience could be useful for the Belarusian army.
Lukashenko told army officials that people do not understand his pragmatic approach to the situation.
Prigozhin’s mercenaries can help the Belarusian army and tell everything about the armament – what works well, and what doesn’t.
Prigozhin stopped his march to Moscow about 200 kilometers from the capital.
Read also: Media: Russian general knew about Prigozhin’s plans