Kremlin explained why Lukashenko acted as mediator in negotiations
The presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko, agreed in their telephone conversation on Minsk's mediation in the situation with the Wagner PMC, and that was the initiative of the Belarusian leader who knew Yevgeny Prigozhin for a long time, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov
“The two heads of state indeed agreed that President Lukashenko will provide mediation efforts to resolve the situation. You will probably ask me why it was President Lukashenko. The fact is that Aleksandr Grigorievich has been personally acquainted with Prigozhin for about twenty years, and that was his personal initiative proposal agreed with President Putin," Mr. Peskov said, adding that last Saturday was a difficult day full of ‘quite tragic events’.
The press secretary noted that the criminal case against the head of the Wagner Private Military Company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, will be terminated, and he will leave for Belarus. As the Kremlin representative stressed, the personal promise of the President of Russia is the guarantee that Prigozhin will be able to do that. Mr. Peskov did not specify what exactly Yevgeny Prigozhin will do in Belarus.
Earlier, the press service of the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, reported that Yevgeny Prigozhin had accepted the proposal of the Belarusian leader to stop the advance of Wagner’s armed units in the territory of Russia and further steps to de-escalate. The Kremlin outlined the main goal of the negotiations, “The supreme goal was to avoid bloodshed, internal confrontation and collisions with unpredictable results,” Mr. Peskov noted. “It is in the name of those goals that Lukashenko's mediation efforts were implemented, and President Putin made the appropriate decision.”
At the same time, the press secretary added that Moscow highly appreciates the contribution to the settlement of the conflict made by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko.
Mr. Peskov also informed on the evening talk [on June 24th] between the two leaders, “The evening conversation between the two presidents was very long, warm, sincere, and very constructive. In addition, in the context of the above mentioned, I also want to inform you that [Vladimir Putin] had a telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister [Nikol] Pashinyan, and the President also informed his Armenian colleague in great detail about the events of the day.”
