- Belarus' Lukashenko said he was ready to help defend Moscow from the Wagner Group's mutiny.
- Lukashenko said Thursday that he prepared a special forces brigade to deploy if necessary.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that he was prepared to help defend Moscow from the Wagner Group's armed rebellion last month, adding that he told Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary organization's founder, about the plan and asked him not to be offended.
A special forces brigade from Belarus' military was ready to deploy to Moscow immediately after Prigozhin and Wagner launched their short-lived mutiny against Russia's military leadership, Lukashenko told foreign and domestic reporters in Minsk.
During the rebellion in late June, Wagner fighters quickly captured the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and made their way north toward Moscow, which was readying its defenses and preparing for combat.
Lukashenko said he was worried that if he didn't help Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close ally and partner, clamp down on the insurrection, the ensuing chaos could have spread throughout Russia and across the borders into neighboring Belarus. The dictator just hoped Prigozhin wouldn't mind that he was preparing to have his forces act against him.
"I said: Yevgeny, don't take offense with me but our Belarusian army has been brought to full combat readiness. Army units have been designated and are being prepared for redeployment to the Moscow area. We will defend Moscow together with Putin," Lukashenko recalled, according to a translation of his remarks by state-run news agency BelTA.
Lukashenko said Russia's defense ministry had dispatched several aircraft to Belarus, which were met by an awaiting special forces brigade that was ready to be sent back to Moscow if needed. "They are roughly as good as Wagner personnel, or they may be even better," Lukashenko bragged of his soldiers.
"And you understand how this conflict could have grown larger," he said, adding that Belarus had agreed with Russia to airlift his forces "fast if necessary." Insider was unable to immediately verify his claims.
Belarus actually did help put an end to the Wagner rebellion — just not with its military. Lukashenko mediated negotiations with the Kremlin and Prigozhin as his mercenaries closed in on Moscow, ending the historic uprising just one day after it started.
The Belarusian dictator shared an account of the events last week, bragging about how the discussions went down, and even claimed that he talked Putin out of assassinating Prigozhin.
Experts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in an assessment at the time that Lukashenko's intervention was likely an attempt to demonstrate that Belarus can "operate successfully and independently" within the Kremlin. His account of the negotiations, the experts said, was "humiliating" for Putin.
As part of the deal brokered by Lukashenko's negotiations, Prigozhin was cast into exile in Belarus, while Russian leadership gave Wagner fighters a choice of either joining their founder in the neighboring country, signing contracts with Russia's defense ministry, or returning to their homes. But after initially confirming that Prigozhin had made it to Belarus, Lukashenko reversed course and said on Thursday that the Wagner boss was actually back in Russia.
Much like Prigozhin, it is unclear where, exactly, all the Wagner fighters who took part in last month's mutiny have gone. Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters last week that the US continues to see "elements" of the notorious mercenary organization in Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, where they have been operating alongside Moscow's regular military.