Lukashenko: Shoigu is sometimes undeservedly criticised, he did a lot

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is sometimes undeservedly criticised, he has done a lot – as stated today by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, at a ceremony of awarding shoulder straps to senior officers, revealing the details of the negotiations with Wagner PMC Head Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 24th, BelTA reports.

“Prigozhin told me on the phone: ‘We’ll go to Moscow, we need justice. We were fighting honestly. You, Aleksandr Grigoryevich, know how we fought’. I told him that I do know,” the Head of State shared the details of the negotiations with Yevgeny Prigozhin.

It was noted that at one time competition between the army and the private military company began, as a result of which ‘an interpersonal conflict between famous people grew into this fight’.

“And here I would like to make one more remark, why I instructed my media, the press secretary, in no case to make a hero out of me, out of Putin, out of Prigozhin, because we missed this situation. And then, when it began to develop, we thought that it would somehow resolve, both I and Putin. But I am to a lesser extent, to be honest. But it did not settle on its own, and two people who fought at the front almost collided. I was constantly in this topic, in this cauldron. I know the work of Shoigu. He is sometimes criticised undeservedly,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

He recalled that Sergei Shoigu had been to Belarus more than once, and the Head of State held talks with him.

“Of course, I can’t give in the media what we were talking about. We had very serious negotiations with him. General Khrenin [Belarus’ Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin] met with him more than once, and we supported him with everything we could (and we could have done a lot) and did a lot. And in this regard, Shoigu did a lot. That is, he took his niche where he can do something,” the President said.