Lukashenko: in the near future we’ll discuss with Putin functioning of PMC Wagner
During his meeting with representatives of foreign and Belarusian media, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he sees no problems in continuing the work of PMC Wagner in the interests of Russia. At the same time, the Head of State said that in the near future he would meet with Vladimir Putin and discuss this issue with him.
Answering the question whether it is possible to restore relations between PMC Wagner and the Government of the Russian Federation, the President of Belarus said, “The Government of the Russian Federation has nothing to do with PMC Wagner. It was created by the corresponding structures that are related to weapons. But if you meant the government as the leadership of the country, well, then maybe. PMC Wagner was established by certain structures and it interacted mainly with the armed forces through the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate) of the Russian Federation. It’s not a secret either, I guess. Therefore, I do not think that there can be any problems in making Wagner members work in the interests of Russia. Otherwise, what is the sense of dealing with them now? One should not lose such a unit (with all the nuances, of course, there are many complaints). And even more, one shouldn’t lose fighters of such a unit. There are about two dozen heroes of Russia there. I wish the entire army, both ours and that of Russia, fought as well as these guys. Therefore, I do not think that there will be problems here, but these are the problems of the Russian Federation and President Putin. We’ve agreed to meet with him in the near future, and we will discuss this problem as well, since we dealt with its settlement and were involved in the issues of the further functioning of PMC Wagner.”
To a clarifying question about the prospects for relations between Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin, Aleksandr Lukashenko replied that he would talk about this with the President of Russia during their meeting, “I will not impose my point of view, I do not know everything and do not want to know about the relationship between Putin and Prigozhin. But you have to understand that Putin knows Prigozhin much better than I do... Putin knows him much better, back from St. Petersburg, when they lived and worked there. It’s about 30 years and they had very good relationships over this time, maybe, even more than good relationships.”
The Head of State reiterated that Prigozhin is currently free, “We have talked on the phone with him more than once. We were just discussing the moments of PMC Wagner’s further activities. He told me one thing that they would work in the name of Russia, for the good of Russia, and they would fulfil their duty to the end, when come to an agreement and the decisions are made by the relevant authorities.”
Answering a clarifying question about what will happen next with Prigozhin, Aleksandr Lukashenko replied, “If you think that Putin is so malicious and vindictive, and will ‘kill’ him tomorrow somewhere, speaking in Russian, this will not happen.”
