Lukashenko Says Prigozhin Never Asked Him for Security Guarantees

MINSK (Sputnik) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that Wagner Group private military company (PMC) leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had never asked him for security guarantees.

On Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said that the Embraer Legacy private plane en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg crashed in the Tver Region, killing all 10 people aboard. Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsia said that Prigozhin was on the plane. An investigation into the accident is underway.

"To answer this question directly, I do not have to provide security for Prigozhin. That is the first point. Secondly, we never talked about it in that way," Lukashenko was quoted as saying by a Belarusian news agency.

The president added that he and Prigozhin discussed the issue of security twice in their conversations. "The first time, when I called him while negotiations were underway, when they were marching to Moscow, I said to him, 'Zhenya, do you realize, you're going to kill people and you're going to die yourself?’ In the heat of the moment, this man, having just returned from the front, said: ‘To hell with it, I'll die.’ I replied to him: ‘Zhenya, I'll send you a rope and a bar of soap.’ ‘No, no, no. I don't want that. I'll die a hero.’ That was the first conversation. The second time he came to see me with Dima Utkin. I warned them both bluntly: ‘Guys, look,’" Lukashenko clarified.

Regarding who is responsible for the plane crash, the president noted that he could not say who it is, but could not imagine that Russian head of state Vladimir Putin was to blame.

“I can’t say who did it. I wouldn’t become a lawyer even for my older brother. But I know Putin. He is a far-sighted, very calm and even slow man, in terms of making decisions on other, less complicated issues. Therefore, I can’t imagine that Putin did it, that Putin is to blame. It’s a too blunt, unprofessional work, if anything,” Sputnik Belarus quoted Lukashenko as saying.

Lukashenko notes that many people are trying to "pin" the responsibility for the tragedy on the Russian president. However, according to the Belarusian head of state, the Russian leader has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Lukashenko Stated Wagner Group Fighters Remain in Belarus

Soldiers of the Wagner group are not leaving Belarus, they will continue to live and work in the country, the president emphasized.

"Wagner lived, Wagner lives, and Wagner will live in Belarus, regardless of anyone who does not want it. Together with Prigozhin, we have built a system for how Wagner will be situated here," Sputnik Belarus quoted Lukashenko as saying.

According to the president, "the core" remains in the country, with up to 10,000 people based there. At the same time, Lukashenko noted, that there is no need to keep all the fighters in Belarus.

"Therefore, they are not running anywhere. As much as we and this unit need, they will live and work with us," the politician stressed.

In August, Lukashenko said that the Wagner fighters who are located in Belarus are passing down their experience to the Belarusian Army and special forces free of charge. In particular, in July, they acted as instructors at the training of the country’s territorial defense units near the town of Osipovichi, Mogilev Region.

In August, the Wagner Group company was registered in Belarus, with its activities labeled as educational services. Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov did not answer a question whether its state funding would continue, redirecting it to Minsk.