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RIGA, Latvia — When Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko tried to persuade Yevgeny Prigozhin to call off his uprising against Moscow, the mercenary boss was “half-mad,” Lukashenko said, and spouted obscenities for half an hour — and may not have been aware of it Life was in danger.
The verbal abuse in their phone call on Saturday “was 10 times more common than normal,” Lukashenko said in remarkably candid comments during a meeting with his generals on Tuesday. He claimed to have stopped Russian President Vladimir Putin from making a “tough decision” – an indication that Putin planned to kill the Wagner Group boss. Lukashenko’s comments were published by Belarusian state media.
Prigozhin said he wanted to talk to Putin, Lukashenko said, and demanded that frequent targets of his anger – Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff – be handed over to him. That will not happen, said Lukashenko.
Putin delivers speech on deal with mercenaries; Russia faces divisions
Lukashenko played – perhaps improbably – a central role in brokering the deal between Putin and Prigozhin that resulted in the enraged mercenary boss distracting a column of fighters advancing on Moscow with surprisingly little resistance. In return, Putin agreed to drop the insurgency charges against Prigozhin and allow him and Wagner to move to neighboring Belarus, which is anything but a vassal state of Moscow.
Putin also allowed Prigozhin to leave Russia alive — a point that seemed uncertain until Lukashenko confirmed on Tuesday that the mercenary chief had arrived in Belarus on a private plane.
Lukashenko’s version of events could not be verified. He is widely viewed as a dictator and a violator of civil, human and political rights. The president of Belarus since 1994, he has claimed re-election, most recently in a 2020 vote that was widely seen as fraudulent and sparked months of protests that were brutally repressed. And he’s known for making swaggering, far-fetched, and sometimes bizarre statements.
In September 2020, for example, Lukashenko claimed that reports of the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were fake. He released a transcript of a conversation intercepted by Belarus between a Polish intelligence officer named “Mike” and a German agent named “Nick” that confirmed the fraud. Angela Merkel, the then German chancellor, announced the results of a German military laboratory that revealed Navalny was personally poisoned with a chemical weapon.
But as bad as Lukashenko’s reputation might be, the Kremlin confirmed that he was a central figure in the deal. And in his remarks on Tuesday, Lukashenko described the talks with Putin and Prigozhin in unusual detail.
The unlikely appearance of the Belarusian dictator Lukashenko as a mediator with Wagner
Speaking to Putin on Saturday morning, Lukashenko concluded that the Russian president plans to “beat up” Prigozhin. He said he had convinced Putin that while that option was theoretically available, it risked triggering major bloodshed.
“I say: ‘Don’t do that, because then there will be no negotiations,'” Lukashenko said.
Wagner fighters, the Belarusian president said on Tuesday, are battle-hardened and “will do anything – these guys know how to stand up for each other.”
“And this is the best trained unit in the army,” he said. “Who will disagree with that?” If Putin had cracked down on Prigozhin, thousands of civilians and Russian forces would die in the conflict, he said.
Lukashenko’s detailed account of sensitive talks amid the biggest crisis of Putin’s career was highly unusual. He conveyed a sense of cordial relationship with Putin, who he said addressed him as “Sasha,” a diminutive of Alexander.
At the same time, he lauded Prigozhin at a time when top Russian officials are trying to tarnish his reputation.
“Who is Prigozhin?” Lukashenko asked and replied: “He is a very authoritative person in the armed forces today. No matter how much some would not like it.”
Lukashenko said he received alarming reports of Prigozhin’s mutiny when he was briefed on ties between the Belarusian KGB and Russia’s Federal Security Service that Putin wanted to speak. When they spoke just after 10 a.m., he said he realized Putin was planning a crackdown and told him to wait until Lukashenko spoke to Wagner.
“In my opinion, the most dangerous thing was not the situation, but the way it could develop and what the consequences would be,” Lukashenko said.
“I suggested that Putin take his time,” he said, but the Russian president replied, “Listen, Sasha, there’s no point.” He doesn’t even pick up the phone. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”
According to Lukashenko, he managed to persuade Putin to wait until he reached Prigozhin in Rostov-on-Don, the city in southern Russia where Wagner militants had seized control of a key military headquarters and airfield.
“A bad peace is better than any war,” Lukashenko told Putin. “Don’t rush it. I’ll try to contact him.”
“He says again, ‘It’s useless.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, wait.’”
Putin also spoke about the war in Ukraine, Lukashenko said, claiming it was going “better than before.”
“I say: ‘You see, not everything is so sad,'” Lukashenko said.
Lukashenko and Prigozhin spoke at 11 a.m., Lukashenko said.
Lukashenko said Wagner’s commanders, who had just returned from the front in Ukraine, were upset that so many fighters had been killed in the war. Prigozhin said some members of the Russian military wanted to “strangle” Wagner. Prigozhin has publicly accused Shoigu of trying to destroy the mercenary group.
“The guys are very offended, especially the commanders. And as I understand it, they… greatly influenced Prigozhin himself,” Lukashenko said. “Yes, he really is a heroic guy, but he was pressured and influenced by those who led the assault squads and saw those deaths.”
He said Prigozhin denied that Wagner killed any Russian servicemen on the way to Rostov-on-Don – contradicting allegations Prigozhin made to Yunus-bek Yevkurov on camera Saturday when he said Wagner had three Russians Military helicopters shot down for shooting at the mercenaries.
Lukashenko said he believed Prigozhin’s claim that Wagner had not yet killed any Russian military personnel or civilians. He asked what he wanted.
“Let me give them to Shoigu and Gerasimov. And I have to meet Putin,” said Lukashenko, saying that Prigozhin had told him.
“I say, ‘Zhenya [the diminutive for Yevgeniy]”No one will give you Shoigu or Gerasimov, especially in this situation,” he said. “You know Putin as well as I do. Secondly, not only will he not meet with you. Because of this situation, he will not be on the phone with you.”
Prigozhin was silent at first, Lukashenko said, but then blurted out: “But we want justice!” They want to strangle us! We’re going to Moscow!”
“I say, ‘You’ll get crushed like a bug halfway through.'”
“Think about it, I say.”
“No,” Prigozhin replied.
“I spent a long time trying to convince him,” Lukashenko said. He told Prigozhin he could do whatever he wanted, but Moscow was being defended, he said.
When Prigozhin complained about how hard his men fought, Lukashenko said he reassured him: “I know.”
The conflict was caused by unhealthy competition between Wagner and the military, Lukashenko said. “An interpersonal conflict between famous people escalated into this fight.”
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