‘Lukashenka Betrayed Both Putin And Prigozhin’

How did the next campaign of impostors against Moscow end?

On Friday, June 23, the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced "the start of the restoration of justice in Russia." On June 24, Wagner troops took Rostov-on-Don and marched through the Rostov, Voronezh and Lipetsk regions of the Russian Federation. Wagner troops with armoured vehicles entered the Moscow region and approached a distance of 200 km to the capital of the Russian Federation, after which Prigozhin announced that he ordered his troops to go back.

Dzmitry Bandarenka, the coordinator of the European Belarus Civil Campaign gave an interview with the Charter97.org website. He said that the rebellion in Russia was organized by the “Honorary Surrender Party”.

– Of course, there was an attempted military coup in Russia, because such “staging” has already caused much more harm to the Kremlin regime than the loss of the occupied territories in Ukraine and many years of failures in the economy of the Russian Federation. There can be many reasons why Prigozhin did this: from the St. Petersburg economic showdown to a large-scale conspiracy in the Kremlin.

I can say that Prigozhin was “melted” for one reason. He was "betrayed" by people who participated in the conspiracy and who promised him full support. And it was clear that everything was going very well for Prigozhin initially, he even had meetings in Rostov with the deputy chief of the General Staff and one of the commanders of the Russian troops in Ukraine.

His troops advanced the capital so rapidly, although it was clear that these were not quite columns, but the Wagnerites joined along the way. At some stage, Prigozhin realized that he had been deceived and that those who guaranteed him an easy march on Moscow were not fulfilling their obligations. Lukashenka also “betrayed” him.

– On the day of the putsch, you put forward the version that Lukashenka was also involved in Prigozhin's conspiracy. Lukashenka’s Press Service, and later Kremlin’s speaker Peskov stated that the Belarusian dictator had resolved almost the entire conflict. So, who is Lukashenka in this situation: a rebel or a peacemaker?

- Let's start from the end, in general, an incredible event happened. Putin's personalist regime is built in Russia, perhaps even tougher than Hitler's once. And just imagine, the coup against Hitler in July 1944, Hitler turns to the Romanian dictator Antonescu to help him negotiate with the rebel Marshal Rommel and other generals. And the Romanian dictator is first to spread the information about the suppression of the putsch and that the putsch failed. It is impossible to imagine such a thing, but we saw that the first information that Prigozhin did not go to Moscow, but accepted the internal “precarious peace”, was reported by the press service of the Belarusian dictator. It's just absurd.

But then it turns out the following: Putin, as an individual, has not been ruling Russia for a long time, there is a certain collective Putin - this is a set of doubles, functioning for several hours a day or a week, Vladimir Vladimirovich, as well as those who pull the strings - Patrushev, Kovalchuk or someone another. It seems to me that Prigozhin and Lukashenka are most aware of the real state of affairs in Russia. This putsch took place because they knew that the real Putin is insane and does not control anything. It was pressure on those pulling the strings that “guys, we also want to participate in ruling Russia, but in general we need to end the war, because we are not able to wage war against Ukraine and the whole world.”

I am sure that Lukashenka knew what Prigozhin would do, they are connected by many years of dirty deeds in Africa and other places. It's not just that Lukashenka took his family out the day before.

Naturally, Lukashenka's treacherous nature took its toll, he did not go beyond a certain line. By and large, he is not a major player in Russia, but internal Kremlin showdowns are underway. We may consider that it was necessary for one of the groups to use Prigozhin and Lukashenka and achieve their goals. There was information that there is an "Honorable Surrender Party" in Russia, and this party is gaining the upper hand. In general, Prigozhin's main accusation was that it was Shoigu and Gerasimov who unleashed a war that was not provoked by anything and that it was necessary to end the war.

– Then there is a question: If Lukashenka is a rebel, can he be avenged for betrayal?

– After all, not only Lukashenka is a rebel. Prigozhin’s campaign showed that a significant part of the armed people in Russia, primarily those who are fighting in Ukraine, want this war to end, and they are no longer trusted. Let's not forget that Russia's GDP is 1/25th of the NATO countries' GDP. It is clear that Russia’s defeat in the war could turn into a catastrophe worse than the collapse of the USSR.

Prigozhin's new idea of "stopping the war" turned out to be very popular among the people. We saw that an armed rebellion was supported in Rostov, that people were farewelling these Wagnerites with tears in their eyes because this very idea is close to them, and that all this must be stopped as soon as possible. Therefore, those from the Kremlin cannot count on the people as well.

A huge number of people in Russia realized that the country suffers an economic catastrophe, a military defeat, a collapse of power, and most importantly, the tsar is fake.

Lukashenka is simply trying to keep his whole skin in any way.

– As a result, Prigozhin will end up in Belarus. What consequences will this have for Lukashenka's regime?

– It seems to me that he is still not a complete idiot and will not end up in Belarus, he needs to hide in Africa or other places. He understands that those people who betrayed him during the rebellion and those from the Kremlin against whom he rebelled, will not forgive him. As they said in one film: "No one needs the violinist, Uncle Vova." It is clear that they will try to “clean up” Prigozhin, and Lukashenka too. The Kremlin will not forgive them the fear and humiliation they experienced, and Lukashenka betrayed not only Prigozhin, but also Putin.

– What consequences will this rebellion attempt have for the war in Ukraine? We have already seen the reaction of the West, will any attitudes to Russia change after these events?

– We see that the commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zaluzny acts systematically. The Ukrainians have had certain successes in recent days. It’s not easy and simple, but the fact that the Russian army is demoralized is a fact. Ukrainians will win back their territories.

Prigozhin's rebellion showed that the West did not really assess the situation in Russia as it is. There were constant fears that "if we deliver ATACMS, it will provoke Russia". And here is a situation when fugitive criminals with tens of years of imprisonment could take possession of nuclear weapons. Those in the Kremlin could also use nuclear weapons in a civil war.

It seems to me that now this idea of sane people in the West, who believe that Ukraine should receive the weapons it needs as soon as possible, will prevail. It became clear that it was not Ukraine that was provoking something, but that this madness in Russia should be ended as soon as possible. The rebellion revealed that the Russian people did not need this war, and Prigozhin's idea of ending the war turned out to be popular at all levels of society - from the oligarchs to the sane military.

Naturally, Ukraine must have long-range artillery and missiles of a certain range. This will help to end the war faster and begin to establish real peace, which, as it turned out, is beneficial even to the Russians. In this regard, the “lanced boil” greatly simplifies the situation. The only thing is that it has not yet been fully resolved. The betrayal of these people, Lukashenka and others, who promised Prigozhin to help quickly, delayed this process. However, after another impostor marched on Moscow, the power balance in our region changed completely.