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As we all know, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s “march for justice” (aka the coup) stopped on Saturday just over 100 kilometers from Moscow. We also know that it was Belarus strongman Aleksandr Lukashenko who was on the phone negotiating the deal that eventually got him to stop. But until today that was really all we knew.
This morning, Lukashenko made a speech in which he gave a more detailed version of how the negotiations developed. According to Lukashenko, it started with an exasperated Putin who called and informed him what was happening. “I…understood that a tough decision had been made, you could hear it beneath Putin’s speech: To wipe them out,” Lukashenko said. But he added, “I advised Putin not to rush.”
At some point he said he told Putin they could definitely kill Prigozhin but then they would have to kill everyone who was angry about him being killed and at some point they’d wind up killing civilians as well.
Lukashenko about Prigozhin:
“That’s why I thought we can certainly kill him. I even said to Putin, We can kill him. It’s not a problem. Maybe not on the first try, but on the second.” ????#Prigozhin #WagnerCoup #RussianArmy #Russia #Wagner #PrigozhinCoup #Belarus #Lukaschenko… pic.twitter.com/zz4EtCqTU5
Natalka (@NatalkaKyiv) June 27, 2023
So armed with this foresight, Lukashenko said it was better to try and talk to Prigozhin. Putin allegedly replied that it was no use because Prigozhin wouldn’t pick up his phone. But Lukashenko said he told Putin “better a bad peace is better than a good fight” and vowed to try reaching Prigozhin.
Eventually, Lukashenko did get hold of Prigozhin by phone. Here’s how he described their first conversation.
