Responding To Kremlin Insurgency, Belarusian President: If Russia Collapses, We Will All Die

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (Sputnik/Mikhail Klimenyev/as)

JAKARTA - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed concern after Wagner's mercenaries rebelled against the Kremlin. He stated that if Russia collapses then "we will all die". "If Russia collapses, we will remain under the rubble, we will all die," Lukashenko said at a ceremony in the Minsk capital, quoted from ANTARA, Wednesday, June 28. Watching the armed insurgency in Russia last weekend was painful, said Lukashenko. “ I have to say it hurts a lot for me to see the latest developments in southern Russia. Many of our citizens also sympathize with them. This is because our homeland is one, said Lukashenko. Lukasheno admitted that he had ordered the Belarusian army to be on full alert during the incident in Russia. Regarding the agreement brokered by Lukashenko to end the conflict between Wagner and the Kremlin, the Belarusian president asked not to make him a "hero". “Don't make me a hero, both me and (President of Russia Vladimir) Putin or (leader of Wagner Yevgeny) Prigozhin," he said. "Because we let the situation just happen and then we thought the conflict would end by itself, in fact it wasn't,” continued Lukashenko. He also claimed that Belarus's opposition had also "started to be loud" amid events in Russia, but they were wrong. “ They ( Belarusian opposition) are trying hard to show at least the results of their work to their bosses. They have even issued calls and published plans showing readiness to implement their own armed insurgency scenario,” he said. Earlier on June 24, the leader of Wagner's mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused the Russian Ministry of Defense of attacking its fighters, and declaring a "shower of Justice" and moving from the Ukrainian border to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Prigozhin even plans to deploy his troops to Moscow to "throw over the military leadership." The Federal Security Agency called the Wagner group's actions "armed rebellion". The agency filed a criminal lawsuit against Prigozhin.

But before arriving in Moscow, Prigozhin and his troops decided to withdraw to avoid bloodshed in Russia. Lukashenko said he helped in resolving the conflict by negotiating with the Wagner leader and urging Prigozhin to accept the deal not to stop the conflict.