Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko scored a propaganda victory by brokering the deal which staved off the threat of an internal armed conflict in Russia but he may live to regret an accord that will see his country host the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, observers say.
In a surprise statement late Saturday, Lukashenko's press service said he had spent all day in negotiations with Prigozhin, with the approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Wagner boss had agreed to stop his advance towards Moscow.
Under the deal brokered by Lukashenko, Prigozhin will in future live in exile in Belarus, the Kremlin announced. It still remains unclear if he will be bringing members of the Wagner militia with him. "I don't think it was Lukashenko's own will. I think he was used by the Kremlin. He would rather not have Prigozhin," she told AFP.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, whose country hosts the NATO summit next month, warned the alliance would need to strengthen its eastern borders "if Prigozhin or part of the Wagner group ends up in Belarus with unclear plans and unclear intentions."Lukashenko has since 2020 grown ever more dependent on Kremlin backing for his future political survival, always appearing the junior partner in his regular meetings with Putin.
"I think Lukashenko already feels he is backed into a corner. Obviously if Putin says 'do me a favor' he is going to do so in the hope this buys him some kind of leverage." "This is small, tactical, artificial, superficial victory for Lukashenko that could turn into a strategic problem for the dictator himself," he added in a video commentary posted by the Poland-based Nexta opposition Telegram channel.Once described by the United States as running the "last dictatorship in Europe," Lukashenko cuts sometimes a mercurial presence in Belarus, often seen scything fields or planting vegetables as well as playing sports.
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