Belarus’ Dictator Says He Talked Putin Out of Assassinating Prigozhin

• Belarus’ president said that he talked Vladimir Putin out of assassinating Yevgeny Prigozhin. 
• “I told him: ‘Don’t do this,'” Lukashenko said in a speech given Tuesday. 
• Prigozhin attempted to march on Moscow in an armed revolt against the Russian defense ministry.

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he talked Russian President Vladimir Putin out of assassinating Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the paramilitary Wagner Group who attempted to march on Moscow in an armed revolt against the Russian defense ministry over the weekend.

“I said to Putin, ‘Yes we could take him out, it wouldn’t be a problem, if it doesn’t work the first time then the second,'” Lukashenko said in a speech Tuesday.

“I told him: ‘Don’t do this,'” Lukashenko claimed in the speech, which was shared to Twitter by Guardian reporter Shaun Walker. 

—Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) June 27, 2023

After Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny, Putin announced an agreement in which Prigozhin could live in exile in neighboring Belarus, but Putin has since said traitors would be “brought to justice,” suggesting that the Wagner leader could face consequences. 

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