After Prigozhin’s mutiny, Lukashenko claims that Putin intended to ‘wipe him out’

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed that he had pleaded with Vladimir Putin of Russia not to “wipe out” mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the Wagner group’s violent rebellion, which pushed Russia perilously near to civil war.

The mutiny, which had been compared to the discontent during the war that had precipitated the 1917 revolution and civil war, had been put an end to initially by Putin, who had promised to do so. Hours later, though, the Wagner commander came to a compromise that let him take some of his soldiers to Belarus.

On Tuesday, Wagner Chief made his way from Russia to Belarus. During his discussion of his conversation with Putin on Saturday, Lukashenko used the Russian criminal slang phrase for killing someone—”wipe out” in English.

According to reports, Lukashenko added, “I also understood: a brutal decision had been made (and it was the undertone of Putin’s address) to wipe out the mutineers,” during a meeting with members of his army and journalists on Tuesday.

“I told Putin to take his time. I said, “Come on, let us talk to Prigozhin and his officers.” “Listen, Sasha, that is pointless,” he said at that time. The man claimed that because he does not want to talk to anyone, he does not even answer the phone.

When threatening to “wipe out them out in the shithouse” Chechen insurgents in 1999, Putin used the same Russian speech. The remarks made by Putin have come to represent his severe persona.