2023-06-29 06:53:38
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian mercenary group “Wagner”, went to Belarus last weekend after organizing a brief uprising against the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the fight against Ukraine. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko gave this information on Tuesday.
It is not known where Prigozhin is in Belarus, how many fighters are accompanying him and how long he plans to stay there. Lukashenko, an ally of Putin, negotiated Prigogine’s departure to Belarus after thousands of his fighters advanced from Ukraine to Moscow last Saturday.
Putin promised Prigozhin’s safety during his stay in Belarus. According to Belarusian state media, authoritarian Lukashenko urged Putin not to kill Prigozhin.
“I told Putin, we [Priqojini] we can destroy it, no problem. Not on the first try, but on the second try. I told him not to do it,” Lukashenko said in his meeting with security officials.
Western countries have imposed sanctions on Lukashenko, 68, for cracking down on the opposition and allowing Russia to invade Ukraine from Belarusian territory last year, and more recently for allowing Russia to store tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus for possible use in the war in Ukraine.
While promising that Prigogine would be safe in Belarus, Putin expressed mixed feelings about the Wagner group after the rebellion against his rule and the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry. Although Putin characterized the leaders of “Wagner” as traitors, he said that the ordinary mercenaries “showed real courage and heroism” in the battles against Kyiv forces.
Prigozhin’s visit to Belarus came as Putin said Tuesday that Moscow had paid $1 billion through May 2022 to fully fund the Wagner mercenaries, contrary to his claim that he was funding his mercenaries.
Voice of America
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