Putin Wanted to ‘Wipe Out’ Mercenary Chief

“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin not to ‘wipe out’ mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in response to what the Kremlin cast as a mutiny that pushed Russia towards civil war,” Reuters reports.

“Putin initially vowed to crush the mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolution of 1917 and then a civil war, but hours later a deal was clinched to allow Prigozhin and some of his fighters to go to Belarus.”