The Kremlin said on Saturday that the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, would move to Belarus under a deal brokered by its president Alexander Lukashenko to end the rebellion against Russia’s military leadership.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to broker a deal, with the approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin, because he has known Prigozhin for nearly 20 years.
Earlier on Saturday, the president thanked his Belarusian counterpart for his efforts that led to the return of the Wagner Group to its bases, according to what the presidency announced in Minsk.
The official Belta news agency in Belarus stated that President Lukashenko made a second phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin this evening to inform him of the results of his talks with Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group.
A statement by the presidency, reported by the agency, stated that Lukashenko “informed the President of Russia in detail about the results of the negotiations with the leadership of the Wagner Group,” and that Putin “thanked his Belarusian colleague … for the work he had done,” following the group leader’s announcement that his forces would return to their camps. For blood, in the wake of communication between him and the President of Belarus.
Lukashenko’s office had said, earlier, that the Belarusian president spoke to Prigozhin after obtaining Putin’s approval, and that the leader of the group agreed to calm the situation and to stop the movements of his fighters. Indeed, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, announced earlier this evening, Saturday, that he had ordered his fighters to return to their bases to avoid bloodshed in Russia, following a phone call with the Belarusian president. Prigozhin said, in an audio recording broadcast by his office, “Now is the time when blood can be shed. Therefore (…) our convoys will return to the field camps according to the plan.
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