Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed fascist president of the so-called Republic of Belarus, has said that he did not offer security guarantees to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group leader reportedly killed in a plane crash on 23 August, after Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny in Russia.

Source: BelTA, a Belarusian state-controlled media outlet

Quote from Lukashenko: “To answer your question openly: I should not be the one in charge of Prigozhin’s security. That’s the first thing. Second, this was never even discussed.”

Details: Lukashenko also said that he discussed Prigozhin’s security with him on two occasions.

Quote from Lukashenko: “We have touched on this twice. First, when I called him and negotiations were underway, when [Wagner Group forces] were marching on Moscow. I told him: ‘Zhenya [short for Yevgeny – ed.], do you realise that your people will be killed and you will be killed?’ He was enraged; he had come straight from the front: ‘To hell with it, let me be killed!’ So I told him: ‘Zhenya, let me send you a piece of rope and a bar of soap.’ ‘No, no, no, I don’t want it to happen this way. I want to die a hero.’ That was our first conversation. The second time we talked was when he and Dima Utkin came to see me. I warned both of them: ‘Watch out, guys.’”

Details: Lukashenko insisted that Putin could not be behind Prigozhin’s death, claiming that it was too much of a “hack job”.

“I can’t say who did it. I wouldn’t want to be a defence lawyer, even for my own elder brother. But I know Putin. He is a very measured, very calm – even slow – person, even when he makes decisions regarding less complicated issues. So I can’t imagine Putin did it or that Putin is to blame. It’s too much of a hack job, too unprofessional,” Lukashenko said.

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