Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday verified that Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had fled to his country, days after his mercenary force staged an abortive revolt in neighboring Russia.
But the Belarus leader, increasingly reliant on the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin as his country faces sanctions from the West, denied an opposition report that he authorized the construction of a camp to house the thousands of Wagner Group fighters coming with Mr. Prigozhin into his country.
“We offered an abandoned army facility to them. It has a fence and everything else,” Mr. Lukashenko told reporters at a military promotion ceremony in Minsk Tuesday, according to the official BelTA news service. “Feel free to set up tents and we will help you out how we can. They still have to make up their minds on what to do.”
He added that Mr. Prigozhin flew to Belarus after receiving “security guarantees” from Mr. Putin upon agreeing to call back his forces.
The fate of Mr. Prigozhin and his fighters is one of the pending issues following head-spinning events over the weekend. Armed Wagner Group fighters occupied a military headquarters site in Rostov-on-Don and were just over 100 miles outside of Moscow before calling off the revolt.
Mr. Putin denounced Mr. Prigozhin, a onetime political ally, and other top Wagner officials as traitors, but the Kremlin also has said Wagner fighters can join the regular Russian army or return to their homes without punishment.
The opposition Belarus news media site Verstka reported Monday that a camp that could accommodate 8,000 Wagner fighters — many of whom had been on the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine — was being built in the Belarusian town of Asipovichy, with more such camps coming. Asipovichy is 120 miles from the Ukraine-Belarus border.
Mr. Lukashenko, who recently agreed to house Russian tactical nuclear arms in his country, portrayed himself as playing a critical role in the weekend deal that avoided a full-scale civil war in Russia. He claimed he was able to reach Mr. Prigozhin by phone at the height of the crisis Saturday and helped persuade him to call off the revolt.
He confirmed that the Wagner Group chief was particularly unhappy with how Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his advisers were conducting the Ukraine conflict and about a demand that Wagner mercenaries register to fight under the regular Russia army.
“He said, ‘We will advance to Moscow,’” Mr. Lukashenko said, recounting his Saturday phone call with Mr. Prigozhin. “‘We need justice. We’ve been fighting honestly.’ … I said, ‘I know it.’”
Mr. Lukashenko expressed relief that a full-out coup was avoided, but said he, Mr. Putin and Mr. Prigozhin were all at fault for failing to address the tensions between the Wagner Group and the Russian Defense Ministry earlier.
“We failed to anticipate this situation,” the Belarus president said. “We let it get away from us. And then when it started spiraling out of control, we looked at it and thought that it would go away on its own.”
Mr. Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with a heavy hand for nearly three decades, but has faced growing isolation and criticism after winning a 2020 presidential election widely dismissed as fraudulent. Accepting the Wagner forces on Belarus soil for an indefinite period could pose a risk to his rule.
Belarusian opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled the country in the wake of the 2020 vote, said Wagner troops will threaten the country and its neighbors.
“Belarusians don’t welcome [the] war criminal Prigozhin,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “If Wagner sets up military bases on our territory, it will pose a new threat to our sovereignty and our neighbors.”
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.