Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko tried to explain why he needed mercenaries from the Wagner PMC on Belarusian soil. According to the dictator, Belarusian troops will "learn from the experience" of the commanders of Yevgeny Prigozhin's private army, which many countries have recognised as a criminal organisation.

Lukashenko said this during a meeting with Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin. According to the dictator, there is no need to be afraid of mercenaries who have been particularly cruel and committed serious crimes, because the Belarusian authorities are "keeping an eye on the ball".

After Prigozhin agreed to the Kremlin's proposal to stop the armed "march on Moscow" and go to Belarus, allegedly as a result of "negotiations with Lukashenko", the latter tried to explain why he needed the thugs from the Wagner PMC on Belarusian territory. According to the dictator, this is the result of a "pragmatic approach" and that the Wagner people will allegedly "share their experience" with the Belarusian military.

"People do not understand that we are taking a pragmatic approach to this. If their commanders come to us and help us... Experience. They are on the front line - assault units. They will tell us what is important now. For example, Putin told me the last time: counter-battery warfare is impossible without it. Drones. They went through it," Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian dictator also desperately needed information about the weapons used in modern warfare.

"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."

At the same time, according to Lukashenko, Belarusians should not be afraid of mercenaries who have been particularly cruel and have committed numerous crimes.

"We keep an eye on the ball," Lukashenko argued.

Earlier, Lukashenko made a statement about Prigozhin's unfinished rebellion and his "role" in resolving the situation in Russia. According to the dictator, as soon as he learned that thousands of mercenaries had announced a march on Moscow, he allegedly ordered the Belarusian army to be put on full alert. Lukashenko also said that it was "painful for him to watch" these events.

In addition, the dictator repeated the statement he had made a few months earlier at the CSTO summit that "if Russia falls, we will all die".

According to Lukashenko, the "worst thing" would be if the "turmoil" in Russia was "instantly taken advantage of" by the West, which is doing exactly that, "expanding NATO to the east" and looking for the right moment to attack Belarus. According to Lukashenko, Belarus' insidious "enemies" are staging "provocations on the state border with neighbouring countries almost every day, from planting bodies to drone attacks".

He did not specify whose bodies the "enemies" were planting on Lukashenko.

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