Belarusian opposition warns of the danger of Prigozhin in Minsk

Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya warned this Thursday that the leader of the Russian mercenary company Wagner and the Belarusian president “are not allies and may be disloyal to each other.”

“At any moment (President Alexander) Lukashenka can betray [Yevgeny] Lukashenka can betray Prigozhin or Prigozhin. They are not allies. They do not trust each other,” Tikhanovskaya said.

According to a statement by President Lukashenko, Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday.

A Russian businessman, leader of the Wagner Group, traveled to Belarus as part of an agreement with Moscow to put an end to the uprising he was promoting with his mercenaries in Russia.

Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory over Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, stressed that “much remains to be clarified” regarding the proposed deal.

For the leader of the Belarusian opposition, who is in exile in Lithuania, Lukashenka’s decision to help Vladimir Putin is a gesture of personal gain to save the Minsk regime.

“He didn’t act to save Putin’s face, save Prigozhin, or prevent a civil war in Russia,” he said.

“(Lukashenko) only cared about his own personal survival because Lukashenko knows that if the Russian factions clash, he can pay the price,” he said.

“If Prigozhin’s militants invade Belarus en masse, they could threaten Europe,” he added.

“The presence of Prigozhin himself or the Wagner group on our territory is, first of all, a threat to the Belarusian people and our independence,” said Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Kremlin ally and businessman who built Russia’s most powerful private army, has recruited thousands of prisoners to fight in Ukraine, in addition to contract soldiers stationed in Syria, Africa and Latin America.

At the end of last week, he led an armed rebellion in Russia.

The leader of the Belarusian opposition warned that the Russian oligarch could use the forces of the Wagner company to further suppress any dissent in the country.

“This is a man who brought rapists and murderers to our land,” he accused.

Tikhanovskaya also criticized the “lack of attention from the West” to the situation in Belarus, which is increasingly under the rule of Moscow.

The absence of a firm reaction from the “world community” to the transfer of nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus encouraged Moscow and Minsk.

“We are still waiting for a response to the installation of nuclear weapons on our territory. When the world is silent at such an important moment, silence becomes a weakness for dictators,” he said.