MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that he had warned Russian mercenary chiefs Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin to watch out for possible threats to their lives, and he insisted that Wagner fighters would remain in Belarus.
President Putin initially vowed to crush Prigozhin’s June mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolution of 1917, but hours later a deal was clinched to allow Prigozhin and some of his fighters to go to Belarus.
Lukashenko, who helped broker the deal, used prison slang shortly after the mutiny to say that he had persuaded Putin not to “wipe out” the mercenary who was listed as a passenger on a private jet that crashed on Wednesday north of Moscow.
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 mutiny he had warned Prigozhin that he would “die” if he continued to march on Moscow, to which he said Prigozhin had answered:
Portraits of Yevgeny Prigozhin (L) and Dmitry Utkin (R). AFP via Getty Images“‘To hell with it – I will die’.”
Then, Lukashenko said, when Prigozhin and Utkin, who helped found Wagner and was also listed as a passenger on the plane that crashed, had come to see him, he had warned them both:
“Lads – you watch out”.
Who was Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin as a talented businessman following the plane crash that apparently killed him.
Prigozhin was the owner of the private military contractor Wagner Group.
Prigozhin planned to capture the Russian military’s top officials during his attempted coup.
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.
He criticized the Russian Ministry of Defense as incompetent and accused it of withholding arms and ammunition from his troops, who were fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine.
Prigozhin was indicted in the United States for interfering in the 2016 presidential election through his infamous internet “troll factory.”
It was not exactly clear from Lukashenko’s words, which were reported by state news agency BELTA, when that conversation took place.
Lukashenko, both an old acquaintance of Prigozhin and close ally of Russia, said that Putin had nothing to do with the plane crash.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (L) and Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko. ZUMAPRESS.com“I know Putin: he is calculating, very calm, even tardy,” Lukashenko said. “I cannot imagine that Putin did it, that Putin is to blame. It’s just too rough and unprofessional a job.”
The Kremlin said on Friday that Western suggestions Prigozhin had been killed on its orders were an “absolute lie” while declining to definitively confirm his death, citing the need to wait for test results.
Lukashenko said Wagner fighters would remain in Belarus.
“Wager lived, Wagner is living 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.
