Lukashenko said that at the beginning of the year he warned about the preparation of an assassination attempt on Prigozhin
MINSK, 25 August. /TASS/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that at the beginning of the year he received information about the preparation of an assassination attempt on the founder of PMC "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin and transferred it to Moscow.
“The last time we flew to the [United Arab] Emirates, I received very serious information from sources, which cannot be deeper, about the [prepared] assassination attempt on Yevgeny Prigozhin. Within two hours - I instructed - they found the Russian ambassador to the Emirates ", called him to me. I handed him a cipher message to the Kremlin to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Alexander] Bortnikov about the impending assassination attempt on Prigozhin," BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying .
According to the Belarusian president, after some time he contacted Prigozhin and clarified whether this information had reached him, to which the founder of Wagner stated that the Russian president had warned him about the impending assassination attempt.
Lukashenko was on a visit to the United Arab Emirates from January 25 to 30, on January 30 he left for Zimbabwe, from where on February 1 he again flew to the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
Versions and accusations
Speaking about the circumstances of the crash of the plane, on board of which the Wagner founder was, the Belarusian president said that he could not confirm this or that version, because "I was not at the crash site." At the same time, he considers it unlikely that a missile hit the aircraft. "Do you know what a 'rocket shot down' is? It's only the commander-in-chief who can give a command to the military space forces to do something. Then they will give a command to a specific unit. And he will give a command to a specific calculation. Do you understand how many people are involved? Which will an idiot do it? Although I don’t deny it either: the devil knows, maybe some crazy people decided it. But I don’t believe it," Lukashenka shared his thoughts.
“The fact that [the plane’s] tail came off has already been confirmed for sure. So, most likely, there was an explosion on board. I personally don’t know who did it. But I said that, knowing Putin, how scrupulous, cautious neat, I don’t believe that he will do this. And then. For a head of state like that, this is madness. He is not mad," the Belarusian leader said.
At the same time, Lukashenka believes that in any case, in the West, Putin will be blamed for the death of Prigozhin. “I don’t make him white and fluffy, but I know that everything will be blamed on him. And so it turns out. The West began to yell, others began to sing along with him that “here, Putin, malicious and vindictive.” Be that as it may, that no matter what happens, time will tell. Time will pass, we will all find out. It is impossible to hide this in modern times," the President of Belarus is sure.
Lukashenko noted that there was no point for the Russian authorities in the assassination attempt on Prigozhin, since the situation around the Wagner PMC had generally calmed down, the parties had reached agreements and agreed on further steps.
