Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is already in Belarus after rebelling against Putin

The founder of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhinis already in Belarus, as reported on Tuesday by the Belarusian state news agency belta citing the president Alexander Lukashenko.

Under the agreement reached on Saturday with the mediation of Lukashenko to put an end to the mutiny of the Wagner group in Russia, Prigozhin he had to move to Belaruswhile his men were given the choice of joining him or joining the regular Russian armed forces.

Lukashenko has said that Belarus is not building camps yet for Wagner’s mercenaries, but will also accommodate them if they wish, reports Reuters. In fact, Minsk has already offered Prigozhin an abandoned military base. “For now we are not building any camps. But if they wish (…) we will place them” in “abandoned military installations” and they can “pitch there tents”said.

The Belarusian president also stated that his defense minister, Viktor Khreninhad told him that he would not mind having a unit like Wagner in the Army. The Belarusian leader instructed Khrenin to negotiate with Prigozhin on the matter.

On the morning of this Tuesday, Lukashenko had already suggested that the mercenaries of the Wagner group who go into exile in the country could “help” the former Soviet republic with their experience as a strike forcecombat techniques and the handling of weapons.

“If your commanders come and help us… It’s experience. They were raiding parties in the vanguard. They’ll tell us what’s important now.” […] About tactics, weapons, how to advance and how to defend yourself. It is something that is priceless. This is what we should take from the wagnerites“he said, according to belta. However, this stay would be “only temporary”: “As promised, if you want to spend some time here (…), we will help you. Of course, on your own”, quote efe.

Khrenin noted that there is now a lot of talk about the mutiny of Russian mercenaries, but “people don’t understand that we have a practical approach about. There is no reason to fear them,” said the Defense Minister, noting that “we are always vigilant.”

[Lukashenko: “Nunca hemos estado tan cerca de una guerra mundial. Si Rusia se cae, moriremos”]

Wagner’s mercenaries remain in their camps in the Ukrainian region of Lugansk, annexed by Russia in September 2022. Lukashenko has stressed that, at least those who do not sign agreements with the Defense Ministry, they want to “go with their families” some time after 16 months of fighting in Ukraine.

The President of Belarus also stressed that his Government it will not open recruitment points from Wagner. “We don’t have the need to open Wagner recruiting points. I think we never will.” […] But those who want to serve will find the way“, he claimed.

Lukashenko also assured that the Russian mercenaries they will not guard nuclear weapons Russian tactics emplaced in Belarus. “The Poles and others think that Wagner is going to guard the nuclear weapons,” but that “is our task. And first of all, I am personally responsible for the safety of the weapons. Therefore, we would never. We have enough people who can protect this facility together with the Russians,” she emphasized.

Why Belarus?

In the midst of the Wagner crisis last weekend, Lukashenko volunteered as a mediator between Moscow and the rebels, whom he convinced to put an end to the uprising to avoid “bloodshed”. The Belarusian president alleges that he contacted Putin almost immediately after learning of the rebellion.

[Putin admite que Rusia ha estado al borde de “una guerra civil” tras el motín del Grupo Wagner]

The Russian president informed him “in the most detailed way” about the situation. “The most dangerous thing, as I understood, was not the situation at that moment, but how it could develop and its consequences (…) and I also understood that the cruel decision had been made to crush them. I proposed to Putin not to rush,” said Lukashenko. The Belarusian president added that Putin did not have high hopes for the possibility of a dialogue with Prigozhin, since Wagner’s boss “did not answer the phone and did not want to talk to anyone.”

After receiving Prigozhin’s phone number from the Russian Federal Security Service, Lukashenko contacted him and noted that he was “very upset”: “the first round of talks lasted 30 minutes between swear words exclusively. There were ten times more tacos than normal lexicon,” he recalled. The Belarusian president noted that Wagner’s fighters “had just come from the front in Ukraine, where they saw the deaths of thousands of their own. The boys were very offendedespecially the commanders. And as I understood, they greatly influenced Prigozhin.”

“Yeah, he’s like that, you know, a heroic guy, but the ones who led the raiding parties and saw all those deaths they put a lot of pressure on him and influenced him. And in those circumstances (…) in an almost rabid state, I talked to him,” he said.

Prigozhin, according to the Belarusian president, insisted on going to Moscowwhereupon Lukashenko assured him that no one would hand him over to the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigunor to the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimovagainst whom Wagner launched his armed rebellion.

“You know Putin as well as I do,” Lukashenko told Wagner’s boss, noting that even if the mercenaries arrived in Moscow the Kremlin chief would never agree to receive him “under these circumstances.” “They’ll squash you like a bug along the way, despite the fact that the Russian Army is busy at the front. Think about that, “warned Lukashenko, who assured Prigozhin that he was ready to send a Belarusian brigade” to defend Moscow, like in 1941 “, referring to World War II.