"We are being pragmatic about it": Lukashenka tells why he needs "Wagner PMC" in Belarus

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has told what he thinks Wagner's PMCs will do in Belarus. He believes that they will "help" and "tell us what is important now."

Source. This was reported by BelTA.

"There is a lot of talk and chatter now: "Wagner, Wagner, Wagner". People do not realize that we are also taking a pragmatic approach to this. If their commanders come to us and help... Experience. Listen, they are on the front line – assault units. They will tell us what is important now. Putin told me the last time: counter-battery warfare, it's impossible without it. Drones. They went through this. They will tell us about weapons: which worked well, which did not. Tactics, weapons, and how to attack and defend. This is priceless. This is what we need to take from the Wagnerians. We have nothing to fear from them. We have our ears to the ground," Lukashenkо said.

As a reminder, on June 24, allegedly in agreement with Putin, Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin, who organized the "military march" on Moscow. They ended with an agreement to stop the movement of Wagner's men through the territory of Russia in exchange for security guarantees for Prigozhin and the militants.

In particular, today, on June 27, Lukashenko confirmed that the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had arrived in the country.

The day before, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that PMC mercenaries who do not want to sign a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry and continue their military service may also go there.

Lukashenka emphasized that, contrary to rumors, no camps for mercenaries from Wagner's PMC are being built in Belarus.

"We offered them one of the abandoned (military) units. Please, there is a fence, everything is there. Put up your tents. We will help them as much as we can. They will decide what to do for now. <...>

But for now, they are in Luhansk in their camps. And as Prigozhin told me on the phone yesterday, someone will sign a contract with the Defense Ministry. But, he says, the most important thing is that my guys have not been home for six months, a year. And it was important for me to agree with Putin that he shouldn't touch them. He promised, and he is keeping his promise. They want to go to their families."

As a reminder, the Wagner PMC mainly consists of people who served their sentences in prison and were recruited for the war in Ukraine by Prigozhin personally.