Alexander Lukashenko said that during the Wagner PMC mutiny, he contacted FSB director Alexander Bortnikov and "strongly asked" not to attack the Wagner convoy.
During the negotiations, according to Lukashenka, Yevgeny Prigozhin refused the demand to extradite Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov to him. After that, Lukashenka promised the Wagner fighters safety.
“At five in the evening, he <Prigozhin> called me and said: “Alexander Grigoryevich, I accept all your conditions. But what should I do? We stop – they will start to wet us. I say: “They won’t start. I guarantee you. I take it upon myself.”
According to Lukashenka, the main condition that he set to Prigozhin during the negotiations to end the rebellion was the absence of those killed.
“I warn him: “Eugene, no bloodshed. As soon as you intentionally or unintentionally kill at least one person, especially a civilian, that’s it, there will be no negotiations with you, and I won’t talk to you.” He swore to me. “We,” he says, “do not have such a goal, and I swear to you that this will not happen.”
Lukashenka did not mention that Wagner PMC militants shot down at least two helicopters and one aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces during the mutiny. At the same time, according to various sources, from 4 to 20 people died. Prigozhin, at the end of the rebellion, said that the Wagner PMC was supposedly going to disarm on June 30, but a blow was struck at the mercenaries, as a result of which about 30 people died.