MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that he had warned Russian mercenary bosses Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin to be on the lookout for possible threats to their lives, insisting that Wagner’s fighters would remain in Belarus.
Initially, President Putin promised to crush Prigozhin’s June mutiny, likening it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the 1917 revolution, but a deal was struck hours later to allow Prigozhin and some of his fighters They went to Belarus.
Lukashenko, who helped broker the deal, used prison jargon shortly after the riot to say he had persuaded Putin not to “eliminate” the mercenary who was listed as a passenger on a private plane that crashed north of Moscow on Wednesday.
Prigozhin, Lukashenko said on Friday, had twice dismissed concerns raised by the Belarusian leader about possible threats to his life.
Lukashenko said that during the riot he had warned Prigozhin that he would “die” if he continued to march on Moscow, to which he said Prigozhin had replied:
Portraits of Yevgeny Prigozhin (left) and Dmitry Utkin (right). AFP via Getty Images
“‘To hell with this, I’ll die.'”
Later, Lukashenko said, when Prigozhin and Utkin, who helped found Wagner and was also listed as a passenger on the crashed plane, went to see him, he warned them both:
“Guys, be careful.”
Who was the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman after the plane crash that apparently killed him.
Prigozhin was the owner of the private military contractor Wagner Group.
Prigozhin planned to capture the top officials of the Russian army during his attempted coup.
Fire engulfs the plane after the crash. TELEGRAM/ @grey_zone/AFP via Getty Images
Prigozhin and his mercenary fighting force did not face charges and were instead exiled despite leading an armed insurrection against the Kremlin.
Prigozhin began his career as a petty criminal: he was convicted of robbery and assault in 1981 and served 12 years in prison.
The place where the plane crashed.
He criticized the Russian Defense Ministry as incompetent and accused it of withholding arms and ammunition from his troops, who were fighting on Russia’s behalf in Ukraine.
Prigozhin was accused in the United States of interfering in the 2016 presidential election through his infamous Internet “troll factory.”
READ MORE
From Lukashenko’s words, reported by the state news agency BELTA, it was not exactly clear when that conversation took place.
Lukashenko, an old acquaintance of Prigozhin’s and a close Russian ally, said Putin had nothing to do with the plane crash.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin (i), and the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.ZUMAPRESS.com
“I know Putin: he is calculating, very calm, he is even late,” Lukashenko said. “I cannot imagine that Putin did it, that Putin is to blame. It is too hard and unprofessional work.”
The Kremlin said on Friday that Western suggestions that Prigozhin had been killed on its orders were an “absolute lie”, and declined to definitively confirm his death, citing the need to wait for test results.
Lukashenko said that Wagner’s fighters would remain in Belarus.
“The bet lived, Wagner lives and Wagner will live in Belarus,” Lukashenko said. “The core remains here.”
“As long as we need this unit, they will live and work with us,” he said.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn