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Lukashenko says he was unfamiliar with events surrounding Wagner until morning of June 24

27 June 2023 19:35 (UTC +04:00)

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he had not been following the situation surrounding the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) until Saturday morning, but then "alarming news" began coming in from Russia, APA reports citing TASS.

"Friday, you know, we had such a joyous day; we were all getting ready to celebrate the school graduation day, and, of course, I was pretty busy with that. Yes, and let me say frankly: Receiving infrequent information about what was happening in Russia, in Rostov, in the south, I somehow did not pay particular attention to it. A war is going on; anything can happen," BelTA news agency quoted him as saying on Tuesday.

Lukashenko said that he began to receive "alarming news about the situation in Russia" at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. "Through the FSB [Russian Federal Security Service] and our KGB [Belarusian State Security Committee], and so they reported to me: [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin wants to get in touch. Okay. We agreed at 9:30 a.m. that we would talk at any time convenient for him. After he spoke [to the Russian people] at 10:00 am., at 10:10 he called and informed me in detail about the situation in Russia," the Belarusian leader specified.

According to Lukashenko, he asked Putin several questions, including what efforts were being made to counteract the situation, and "realized that the situation was complicated." "I won't elaborate on that part of the conversation," the Belarusian president added.