In the wake of the uprising by Wagner Group forces in Russia, the US and Europe have turned their gaze to an increasingly unpredictable Belarus – a key Russian ally that Western officials fear could give the exiled mercenary troops a new home and serve as a staging ground for Russian nuclear weapons.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been “slowed down” by entrenched Russian defenses, President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview broadcast on Wednesday, adding that he wished that Western weapons deliveries had allowed it to begin “much earlier.”
All eyes will be on Vladimir Putin this week, with the Russian president expected to make his first appearance on the world stage since the Wagner insurrection threatened his steel grip on power.
Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko claims he convinced Russian leader Vladimir Putin not to “destroy” the Wagner group and its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, talking up his role in halting the mercenaries’ military insurrection that caused crisis in Russia at the weekend.