- Belarus' Lukashenko shared new details about the talks that averted a crisis in Moscow.
- Thousands of Wagner fighters led by Prigozhin threatened to advance on Moscow Saturday.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had quite the story to tell Tuesday as he regaled a crowd of military officers about his 11th hour intervention that three days before averted a siege on Moscow.
His rambling account at the ornate Palace of Independence in Minsk offered new details on the behind-the-scenes negotiations that persuaded Yevgeny Prigozhin to withdraw his thousands of Wagner Group fighters from Russia, capping the biggest political crisis of Russian leader Vladimir Putin's rule.
Lukashenko's tale accords him a starring role in the secret negotiations, whose details could not be independently verified. At one point, he offers a cursory note that he instructed his press secretary "not to make a hero out of me" or, he adds, "Putin or Prigozhin." (In an earlier comment, a Belarusian political commentator said Lukashenko's conversation with Prigozhin was "hard, and as I was told, masculine.")
The dictator, whose state borders Ukraine to the north, said he wasn't closely following the armed revolt by Wagner mercenaries led by Prigozhin until Saturday morning. That's when Russian leader Vladimir Putin purportedly came calling. Lukashenko, of course, owes Putin for supporting a brutal crackdown on large protests against his dictatorship and, it should be said, has also earned a reputation for saying outlandish things, like vodka could stave off the coronavirus.
—Dmitri (@wartranslated) June 27, 2023
On the Saturday call, Putin sounded bleak about the armed standoff with Prigozhin: "Listen, it's useless. He doesn't even pick up the phone, he doesn't want to talk to anyone," Putin said, according to Lukashenko. But Lukashenko urged him to wait to attack the rebels.
By then, Prigozhin's mercenary army had seized a Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and was pushing northward to Moscow, with aircraft attacking his forces and authorities ripping up highways in attempts to block them. Russians posed with the insurgent fighters, who followed Prigozhin on a pledge to bring justice to defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who had moved in recent weeks to make Wagner subordinate to their command.
When he reached the mercenary boss at around 11 a.m., Lukashenko got an earful.
"During the first round we talked using only swear words for about 30 minutes," Lukashenko said, according to a translation by the state-run news agency Belta. "I analyzed it later. The number of swear words was ten times higher than that of normal words. Certainly, he said he was sorry for using swear words." (A political commentator said previously "they immediately blurted out such vulgar things it would make any mother cry.")
Lukashenko says he had "six or seven" rounds of phone calls, although it wasn't clear from the state-run account what was said on which calls. Prigozhin arrived in Belarus after Lukashenko's offers of safety and as of late Tuesday had not publicized his own detailed version of the negotiation that led to his exile.
"I began to ask questions," Lukashenko continued. "I asked: "Did you kill civilians, military who did not oppose you?" Prigozhin replied: "I swear, we did not hurt anyone. We occupied the headquarters. Here I am," Lukashenko recalled.
Prigozhin's forces did, to be sure, kill Russian pilots and aircrews who had represented a threat to his forces.
"I say: "What do you want?"
Prigozhin, again per Lukashenko: "I am not asking for anything. I just want Shoigu and Gerasimov. And I need to meet with Putin."
"No one will give you Shoigu or Gerasimov, especially in this situation. You know Putin as much as I do. Secondly, he will not meet with you, he will not even talk on the phone with you in this situation."
After a pause as the warlord weighs this, perhaps sensing his options are closing, Prigozhin replies: "But we want justice! They want to destroy us! We'll march on Moscow!"
"You'll just be crushed like a bug," Lukashenko replied.
Hours later, Prigozhin said he would accept Lukashenko's offer to withdraw but worried his thousands of fighters could be attacked by Russian troops as they retreated. Lukashenko says he "guaranteed" his safe passage, one offer that did hold up.
Also in the speech, Lukashenko claimed he had talked Putin out of assassinating Prigozhin.
The Russian ministry of defense has said it plans to go forward with disarming Wagner of its heavy weapons and giving them the option to join Moscow's regular forces. A criminal case against Wagner for rebellion has been closed, but Putin suggested that Prigozhin and officials who backed him may face charges for massive embezzlement in another sign the shaky truce with Wagner could still unravel.