June 26, BPN. Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin has said Alaksandr Łukašenka “extended his hand and offered to find solutions so that PMC Wagner could work in a legal jurisdiction,” in an 11-minute audio statement justifying his short-lived uprising.
A long-standing feud between Prigozhin and Russia’s military brass resulted in his mercenaries taking over a military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and marching on Moscow over the weekend.
Official reports suggest that Łukašenka has brokered a deal allowing the Wagner boss to go into exile in Belarus because he called off the uprising. The Kremlin said he will not be prosecuted, although Russian media report that the case against him is still open.
In the audio released by his press office, Prigozhin said the march was organized as a show of protest, not to overthrow the Russian government.
He said the Russian military carried out a missile strike on his troops and planned to incorporate his private army, causing discontent among the troops.
Verstka, a Russian media outlet, claims that construction workers in Belarus are building camps for Wagner fighters. At the same time, Ukraine’s military intelligence said there were no reports of Wagner mercenaries regrouping and moving into the country “in a systematic way.”
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