The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko confirmed the presence of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus. “The safety guarantees promised yesterday have been given. Prigozhin is in Belarus today,” Lukashenko said, according to the Belta news agency. Lukashenko said he asked Vladimir Putin not to eliminate Prigozhin. “I told Putin: We can kill him, that’s no problem. Either on the first or second try. But I asked him not to do it,” Lukashenko declared at a meeting with security officials channel near the presidency, Pool Pervogo, according to a video broadcast by Telegram. A “significant part” of the Russian nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus have already been delivered to that country. That’s what President Lukashenko said. Belarus has nothing to fear from the arrival of the Wagner militiamen, who, on the contrary, can be useful to the Kiev Armed Forces due to their experience. President Alexander said so Lukashenko Meeting with Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin. “They will tell us what is important now,” in terms of weapons and strategy on the ground, Lukashenko said, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency. Lukashenko said that during the advance of Wagner Company mercenaries to Russia, “a whole brigade was ready to be transferred to the Russian Federation if necessary.”
“The Russian military and security forces have effectively prevented the outbreak of a civil war,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to units of the army and security forces on Cathedral Square in the Kremlin. If the weekend Wagner mutiny had not been stopped, all previous results in the Ukraine conflict “would have been lost,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the RIA Novosti agency. “It is not known what would have become of the country,” Putin stressed, “but all the results achieved in the fighting will have been lost.”
“Russia’s war in Ukraine continues unabated. Our unwavering unity contrasts with the disunity in Russia that this weekend’s events have highlighted. We will increasingly reaffirm our commitment to support Ukraine for as long as needed, including through sustained financial and military assistance.” This was written by European Council President Charles Michellein the letter to EU leaders ahead of Thursday and Friday’s summit in Brussels.
Russia “did not have to withdraw military units from combat zones in Ukraine” to deal with the Wagner mutinyHe added, noting that internal security is provided by units from the Defense Ministry, the National Guard and Interior Ministry personnel. And indeed, the commander of the National Guard, Viktor Solotov, announced today that the corps he leads will be equipped with heavy weapons and tanks.
During his speech, the Russian President asked for an honor A minute’s silence to commemorate the victims of the Wagne mutinyr June 24th. Putin addressed units of the Defense Ministry, National Guard, FSB, Interior Ministry and
of the FSO, involved in the suppression of the 24 June uprising. Defense Minister Shoigu was also there.
Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko He said he ordered the Belarusian military to be put on high alert during the Wagner mutiny to be ready for battle. In a speech, the official, a staunch ally of Vladimir Putin, stressed that it was “painful to witness” the weekend’s Wagner mutiny. “Many Belarusians have taken them to heart, too, because the motherland is one.” for it,” he added. The ongoing tensions between the Wagner Group and the Russian army have been poorly managed, he explained, leading to a “clash” between the two sides over the past weekend. “The situation got out of control, then we thought it would be resolved, but it didn’t.”said Lukashenko. “There are no heroes in this story,” he lamented.
In conclusion, the Belarusian President said: “I believe that if Russia collapses and we are buried in rubble, we will all die.”
In the meantime, The private jet of the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, landed at the Machulishchi military airport near Minsk, Belarus. This is reported by Ukrainska Pravda. The plane, he writes, arrived at the airport from Rostov-on-Don at 6:40 a.m. local time. A few minutes later, another jet from St. Petersburg landed at the same airport.
After his sensational march towards Moscow last Saturday, which was cut short a few hundred kilometers from the Russian capital, Prigozhin was seen in Rostov, where he was coordinating the withdrawal of the Wagner men from the city, and yesterday, after two days of puzzles and speculation, he released an 11-minute audio recording on his Telegram channels, in which he said the reason for his rebellion was not his desire to overthrow President Vladimir Putin, but rather to prevent the “destruction” of Wagner.
ANSA agency
Sources on CNN: “Don’t take advantage of the chaos to attack in Russia” (ANSA)
However, it is not yet clear what really happened and what the consequences will be. Evidence of this is the fact that Prigozhin himself continues to be charged by the Prosecutor General’s Office with armed insurrection, and at the same time his company has “normally” resumed its activities at the headquarters in St. Petersburg and in several other cities where recruitment is carried out. On the other hand, The Russian intelligence services FSB dropped the criminal case of armed insurgency against the militia officers of the Wagner group, noting that “its participants stopped actions aimed directly at committing mutiny.”. The Russian authorities report it.
Not all Wagner militiamen remained loyal to Prigozhin, as the Wagner boss had boasted, and indeed some did not shy away from harsh criticism on social media as the uprising subsided. According to online news analyzed by BBC Verify, Members of Wagner’s troops and their families were enraged at the decision to halt the dramatic march on Moscow and withdraw from the captured city of Rostov. While others screamed conspiracy.
“The damn bald guy destroyed Wagner with his own hands. And screwed everyone he could.” So said an internet user claiming to be a Wagner fighter in an online post on a Telegram channel with 200,000 followers. “It was another senseless uprising,” he added. On Telegram, Prigozhin announced his “Justice March” against the Russian regime, and now the channel has become a place where many have turned against him.
Mark Krutov, a reporter from Russia’s RFE/RL service who has access to Telegram group chats used by relatives of Wagner’s fighters, shared some of their messages with the BBC. “They were just betrayed,” wrote one woman. “I trusted Prigozhin, but what he did is dishonorable.” This is sheer treason.” Another user agreed.
One of the biggest question marks after the Kremlin announced on Saturday night that Prigozhin would go to Minsk on the basis of the agreement brokered by Lukashenko. Some Telegram channels and the Kyiv Post had written that he had already been spotted in a hotel in the Belarusian capital, the Green City Hotel. However, management contacted by Russian TV Rtvi said it could not confirm the news. Lukashenko’s press service also announced that they had no information about it.
And today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian government does not know if Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus.