Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin not to "wipe out" mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in response to what the Kremlin cast as a mutiny that pushed Russia towards civil war.
President Putin initially vowed to crush the mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolution of 1917 and then a civil war, but hours later a deal was clinched to allow Yevgeny Prigozhin and some of his fighters to go to Belarus.
Yevgeny Prigozhin flew to Belarus from Russia on Tuesday.
While describing his Saturday conversation with President Putin, President Lukashenko used the Russian criminal slang phrase for killing someone, equivalent to the English phrase to "wipe out".
"I also understood: a brutal decision had been made (and it was the undertone of Putin's address) to wipe out" the mutineers, President Lukashenko told a meeting of his army officials and journalists on Tuesday, according to Belarusian state media.
"I suggested to Putin not to rush. 'Come on,' I said, 'Let's talk with Yevgeny Prigozhin, with his commanders.' To which he told me: 'Listen, Sasha, it's useless. He doesn't even pick up the phone, he doesn't want to talk to anyone'."
President Putin used the same Russian verb in 1999 about Chechen militants, vowing to "wipe out them out in the shithouse", remarks that became a widely quoted emblem of his severe persona.
There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin on President Lukashenko's remarks, which give a rare insight into the conversations inside the Kremlin as Russia, according to President Putin's own account, teetered towards turmoil not seen for decades.
President Lukashenko, both an old acquaintance of Yevgeny Prigozhin and close ally of President Putin, said that he had advised the Russian president to think "beyond our own noses" and that Yevgeny Prigozhin's elimination could lead to a widespread revolt by his fighters.
The Belarusian leader also said that his own army could benefit from the experience of Wagner troops who, according to a deal struck with the Kremlin, are now free to move to Belarus.
"This is the most trained unit in the army," BelTA state agency quoted Lukashenko as saying. "Who will argue with this? My military also understand this, and we don't have such people in Belarus."
Later President Lukashenko told his military that "people fail to understand that we are approaching this in a pragmatic way ... They've (Wagner) been through it, they'll tell us about the weaponry - what worked well, which worked badly."
Yevgeny Prigozhin halted what he called was "march of justice" on Moscow from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don within 200 kilometres of the capital after President Lukashenko's intervention.
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