In an exclusive interview with London’s Biggest Conversation (LBC) on June 27, an opposition Belarusian politician, spoke about exiled Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Prigozhin ended Wagner’s attempted mutiny in exchange for being permitted to move to Belarus without facing prosecution.
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya claimed that Prigozhin was in danger in Belarus and was “definitely not welcome.”
“Lukashenko is fully loyal to Putin, and if he’s given such order to do something with Prigozhin you know – he will do this,” Tikhanovskaya said in the interview.
Tikhamovskaya’s concerns are shared by former CIA director General David Petraeus, who said, “Prigozhin kept his life, but lost his Wagner Group,” Petraeus said.
Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya arrives for a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, November 11, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/ANNEGRET HILSE)“And he should be very careful around open windows in his new surroundings in Belarus, where he’s going.”
Russian politicians comment on Prigozhin’s safety
Yevgeny Popov, a deputy in the United Russia party, issued a statement on LBC asserting that “no one is safe from Russian justice if you are a [criminal]. You will be punished.”
“His fighters are going to take part in the conflict in Ukraine. They of course made crime against Russians. Thank God we don’t have any huge blood here. They are going to fight.”
“They should be punished. But first of all we should and must follow the president’s decision in this case.”
“If you’re waiting for a coup, if you’re waiting for a crisis, if you want to change the regime in Russia, you’re going to wait forever.”
“Yes it was a crisis situation during the weekend and we’ve been the witnesses to a mutiny, and of course it was difficult to understand why Prigozhin did it.”
Why would Belarus accept Prigozhin?
“He’s a war criminal, and he can bring this war into Belarus. And we as a nation don’t want this. We heard from Prigozhin that Lukashenko promised him to legalize the Wagner Group. But what it means in practice we don’t know,” Tikhanovskaya explained to LBC.
“Maybe [Wagner soldiers] will train Belarusian military forces, or they can launch a new invasion on Ukraine from Belarusian territory, or… make provocations on the borders with our western neighbors, Poland, Lithuania.
“The situation in Belarus wasn’t stable since 2020. But I think this Wagner group can be used to threaten Belarusian people, even more.
“We already have a political, humanitarian crisis in our country, people are being detained every day. And now just imagine that Prigozhin’s military will go through our country wherever they want and threaten people.”
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s political career
Tikhanovskaya ran in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election after her husband was arrest. Her husband, who is also a politician, had ran for president when he was arrested.
Tikhanovskaya fled to Poland and then Lithuania out of fear of politically-motivated arrests.
Having fled the country, she was charged with 15 years in prison under the allegations of, among other charges, conspiracy to seize power from the state. She has not served this sentence.
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