MINSK, June 27. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he had not been following the situation surrounding the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) until Saturday morning, but then "alarming news" began coming in from Russia.
"Friday, you know, we had such a joyous day; we were all getting ready to celebrate the school graduation day, and, of course, I was pretty busy with that. Yes, and let me say frankly: Receiving infrequent information about what was happening in Russia, in Rostov, in the south, I somehow did not pay particular attention to it. A war is going on; anything can happen," BelTA news agency quoted him as saying on Tuesday.
Lukashenko said that he began to receive "alarming news about the situation in Russia" at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. "Through the FSB [Russian Federal Security Service] and our KGB [Belarusian State Security Committee], and so they reported to me: [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin wants to get in touch. Okay. We agreed at 9:30 a.m. that we would talk at any time convenient for him. After he spoke [to the Russian people] at 10:00 am., at 10:10 he called and informed me in detail about the situation in Russia," the Belarusian leader specified.
According to Lukashenko, he asked Putin several questions, including what efforts were being made to counteract the situation, and "realized that the situation was complicated." "I won't elaborate on that part of the conversation," the Belarusian president added.
On the evening of June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Wagner PMC, alleged on his Telegram channel that Wagner units had been attacked, accusing Russia’s top brass of complicity in the situation. The Defense Ministry in turn termed the information as fake.
Wagner units, supported by Prigozhin, headed for Rostov-on-Don and then turned toward Moscow. The FSB opened a criminal case concerning a call for armed insurrection. President Putin called Wagner’s actions a betrayal in a televised address.
Later, by agreement with Putin, Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin, following which the Wagner fighters stood down and retreated to their base camp. The Kremlin later clarified that criminal charges would be dropped against Prigozhin, who would "leave for Belarus."
The Kremlin specified later that the authorities would not prosecute those Wagner group members who took part in the mutiny, "in light of their achievements at the frontline." The criminal case over the armed mutiny has been closed, the FSB said.