PARIS: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko scored a propaganda victory by brokering the deal that staved off the threat of an internal armed conflict in Russia, but he may live to regret an accord that will see his country host the head of the private mercenary group Wagner, observers say.
In a surprise statement on Saturday night, Lukashenko's press service said he had spent all day in negotiations with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, with the approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and had agreed to stop his advance toward Moscow.Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko speaks as he meets with foreign media at his residence, the Independence Palace, in the capital Minsk on Feb. 16, 2023.
In a dramatic change in policy and symbol of what the opposition sees as Belarus' loss of sovereignty, it is now hosting Russian tactical nuclear weapons after a deal between Lukashenko and Putin. 'Putting nuclear weapons into Belarus territory is about Russia's slow-motion annexation of Belarus,' said William Alberque, director of strategy, technology and arms control at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
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