Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikanovskaya told AFP that Wagner Group chairman Yevgeny Prigozhin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko are not allies and may be disloyal to each other.
At any moment Lukashenko could betray Prigozhin or Prigozhin could betray Lukashenko. They are not allies. They can’t trust each other,” Ms. Tikanovskaya said in an interview on Wednesday.
Lukashenko, the main beneficiary?
Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday, President Lukashenko announced. The head of the Wagner group visited the country as part of a negotiated agreement to end its insurgency in Russia. But Ms Tikanovskaya, who claimed victory against Mr Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, believes there is still no clarity on the deal allegedly reached. According to him, Mr Lukashenko’s decision to help President Putin was an act of personal convenience to save his own regime. “He did not act to save Putin’s face, to save Prigozhin, or to prevent civil war in Russia,” he says. “He only cared about his personal survival, because Lukashenko knows that if factions in Russia collide, he will pay the price.”
Wagner, a threat to Europe?
He also believed that if Prigozhin’s and Wagner’s fighters flocked to Belarus in large numbers, it would threaten Europe. “The presence of Prigozhin’s or Wagner’s group on our territory is first of all a threat to the Belarusian people and our freedom,” affirms Svetlana Tikanovskaya. “Additionally, this presence could be a threat to Ukraine and our western neighbors,” says the opposition leader, whose husband is imprisoned in Belarus.
Russia’s strongest private army
A former Kremlin ally and restaurateur, Yevgeny Prigozhin built Russia’s strongest private army and recruited thousands of criminals to fight in Ukraine. Last weekend he led a rebellion that seemed to shake Vladimir Putin’s grip on Russia.
Lukashenko, the new “Craftsman of Peace”
Ms Dikhanovskaya condemns Mr Lukashenko being portrayed as a “pacifist” who is said to have helped resolve the crisis. And he warns that he can use Wagner’s forces to further suppress any dissent. “He is the one who brought rapists and murderers to our land,” he alleges. “What will these people do in our country? That is the big question. How will they react?” she wonders.
The West’s “Attention Deficit”
Mr. Vladimir Putin Ms Tikanovskaya also condemned the West’s “lack of attention” to the situation in her country, which has increasingly come under Moscow’s influence since backing Lukashenko. The lack of a firm response from the international community to Russia’s transfer of nuclear weapons to Belarus has emboldened Moscow and Minsk, he said. “We are still waiting for a response to the deployment of nuclear weapons in our territory. When the world is quiet at such a critical moment, dictators feel it is weak.
European sanctions in Belarus
More than a year has passed since the latest EU sanctions against the Belarusian regime for its role in the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. Europeans have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Minsk for its brutal suppression of demonstrations. Mr. in Belarus. Svetlana Tikanovskaya estimates that Wagner’s visit will encourage the adoption of new penal measures “for example against those who allowed this to happen”. For months, EU member states have been negotiating new sanctions against Minsk without reaching an agreement.
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