MINSK. June 27 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Alexander Bortnikov played important roles in organizing talks with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the attempted armed mutiny in Russia.
"Besides Yevkurov at the first stage and FSB Director Bortnikov, no one was involved in these talks," the BelTA state-owned news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying on Tuesday in Minsk.
"He [Prigozhin] immediately answered the phone at 11 a.m. Or rather, Yekurov called him and handed him the phone, saying, 'Here, the president of Belarus is calling, will you talk to him?' 'I will talk with Alexander Grigoriyevich.' I heard their conversation. [Prigozhin] answered the phone. And the conversation was euphoric. Yevgeny was absolutely euphoric," Lukashenko said.
According to Lukashenko, obscene language was predominantly used in the first 30 minutes of the call. "We talked in swear words for the first 30 minutes. Exclusively. I analyzed it later [and found] that there were 10 times more swear words than normal language," the Belarusian leader said.
Lukashenko said that he warned Prigozhin that neither Russian Defense Minister Shoigu nor General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov would be "handed over" to him, Putin would not even talk to the Wagner Group leader, and its members would simply be crushed on their way to Moscow.
Russia saw events involving the Wagner Group on June 23-24, which law enforcement agencies officially classified as an attempted armed mutiny.