Zelensky Holding Out for NATO’s Direct Involvement in Ukraine Conflict, Lukashenko Says

According to the Belarusian leader, the Ukrainian president has finally realized that he will not win the war, and so has gradually started making demands on those who pushed his country into it

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

MINSK, July 6. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will insist that Ukraine be accepted for NATO membership and that the bloc get directly involved in the conflict, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with representatives of foreign and Belarusian media outlets.

"He (Zelensky - TASS) will insist on Ukraine being admitted to NATO so that NATO will then join the war against Russia," he said.

According to Lukashenko, Zelensky has finally realized that he will not win the war, and so has gradually started making demands on those who pushed his country into it. The Belarusian leader noted that Zelensky’s demands would, above all, concern money and new weaponry. "By July 11 (the start date of NATO’s Vilnius summit - TASS), they [the NATO countries] will be expected to come up with something to demonstrate" support for Kiev, he said.

Wagner PMC founder Prigozhin currently in Russia, not in Belarus, Lukashenko confirms

The Belarusian leader also said that Yevgeny Prigozhin was not imprisoned

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Ilya Pitalev/POOL/TASS

MINSK, July 6. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is currently not in Belarus, but rather is located in Russia while his fighters are quartered at their permanent base camps.

"As far as I’ve been informed, as of this morning, the fighters are at their permanent base camps where they have been located since withdrawing from the frontline for rest and recuperation. After Bakhmut (Artyomovsk in Russian - TASS), they withdrew to their camp. That’s where they are located. As for Evgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg. Maybe he went to Moscow, but he is not on Belarusian soil," he said at a meeting with representatives of foreign and Belarusian media outlets.

Lukashenko also said that Prigozhin was not imprisoned. "We talked several times over the phone. I think, yesterday, we had a phone conversation in the afternoon. We discussed the PMC’s further actions," he said, adding that the PMC chief told him that the Wagner fighters will "work toward Russia’s well-being in the future and perform their duty until the end." The Belarusian president said that he had made arrangements to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future to discuss the situation around Prigozhin.

No risks

According to Lukashenko, the relocation of Wagner fighters to Belarus "will depend on the decision made by the Wagner PMC and Russia’s leadership." "If they deem it necessary to deploy a certain number of fighters in Belarus to rest or train, I will carry out my decision," he said.

The Belarusian leader stressed that he did not see any risk in deploying the PMC on Belarusian soil. "I do not think that Wagner would rebel somewhere and turn their weapons against the Belarusian leadership and government. I do not see such a situation today. <...> I absolutely see no risks from deploying the Wagner PMC <...>," the president noted.

"If it becomes necessary to engage them, we will engage them immediately," he said.

In his opinion, Wagner PMC’s fighters and commanders could share their expertise with the Belarusian armed forces. "I mean the military expertise they’ve accumulated," he specified.

If they are deployed in the country, Belarus will conclude a contract with them, Lukashenko added. "If the Wagner PMC is here, they will protect our interests. When they make a decision to be stationed here, a contract will be concluded with them, legal liability, where everything will be spelled out. Then restrictions, limitations will be determined at the level of the law [or a] presidential decree," he explained.

Lukashenko noted that Minsk offered some mothballed Belarusian military bases as housing for the Wagner group but the PMC had its own opinion on this issue and it has not yet been decided.

Position reinforced

Replying to questions about the situation in Russia during Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny on June 23-24, Lukashenko said that, in his opinion, the situation did not weaken Putin’s position. "Don’t even hold your breath for it. There was no vacillation, no weakening; Putin was fully engaged in carrying out his duties," he said.

According to Lukashenko, the situation around the Wagner PMC served to bolster ties between Belarus and Russia.

He also said that, during the mutiny attempt, several aircraft were ready to deploy Belarusian troops to defend Moscow. "The first five or seven planes, I don’t remember anymore, it’s a known fact, landed in Belarus to redeploy a Belarusian special forces brigade near Moscow," he said, adding that in the end, they "did not go anywhere but they were on full combat alert."

Lukashenko did not hold any consultations with other countries over the mutiny. "I knew what to say myself, without any consultations," he said. He noted that he had not interacted with China either and "had it taken place, it would have been with one person only, with [Chinese President] Xi Jinping." "We did not talk and such a conversation was hardly possible even if I had wanted to [have it]," the Belarusian leader added.

The Wagner mutiny

On the evening of June 23, several audio recordings were posted on Prigozhin’s Telegram channel. In particular, he claimed that his units had come under attack, blaming the Russian military. The Russian Defense Ministry slammed the Wagner boss’ allegations of a military strike on the PMC’s "rear camps" as fake news. The PMC units supporting Prigozhin occupied Rostov-on-Don and then headed toward Moscow. The FSB opened a criminal case concerning calls for armed mutiny. Putin, in a televised address to the nation on June 24, described the Wagner group’s actions as an armed mutiny and a betrayal.

Later, Lukashenko, in coordination with Putin, held talks with Prigozhin, resulting in Wagner standing down, turning its units around, and retreating to their base camps. The Kremlin said that the Russian authorities pledged not to prosecute those Wagner PMC fighters who took part in the mutiny in light of their "frontline achievements." The criminal case on armed mutiny was dropped, the FSB said.

On June 27, Lukashenko said that he had offered the Wagner chief an abandoned military base in Belarus to station his fighters.

Redeployment of Wagner PMC to Belarus depends on Russian authorities — Lukashenko

If the Russian authorities consider it necessary to deploy some troops from Wagner PMC in Belarus for some rest and training, the Belarusian leader will execute the order

MINSK, July 6. /TASS/. Redeployment of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) to Belarus depends on a decision of the company’s management and Russian authorities, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday.

"It will all depend on the decision of the company’s management and Russian authorities. If they consider it necessary to deploy some troops [from Wagner PMC] in Belarus for some rest and training, I will certainly execute my order," the Belarusian leader said at a meeting with foreign and domestic media outlets attended by a TASS correspondent.

The Telegram channel of Wagner private military company founder Yevgeny Prigozhin posted several audio records with his statements on the evening of June 23, in which he claimed that strikes had allegedly been delivered against his formations and accused the country’s military leadership of that.

The Russian Defense Ministry dismissed this information as false. The units of the Wagner private military company that supported Prigozhin moved towards the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and Moscow.

In the wake of this, the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia opened a criminal case into a call for an armed mutiny. In a televised address to the nation on June 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Wagnerites’ actions a betrayal.

Later, upon agreement with the Russian leader, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held negotiations with Prigozhin, following which the Wagner private military company pulled back its military columns and returned to its field camps. The FSB press office announced on June 27 that the criminal case had been terminated.