INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Thursday, casting doubt on a Kremlin deal to end their insurrection."As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in St
He is not in Belarus," Alexander Lukashenko told reporters.He spoke to a group of international and Belarusian journalists, including AFP,
with Prigozhin due to depart for Belarus.Since then, Russian authorities have shut down or raided Prigozhin's businesses.Images broadcast by
Russian media on Wednesday showed police entering Prigozhin's residence, a vast and luxurious mansion with a helicopter parked in the
grounds, reportedly on June 25.The images showed police discovering wads of rubles and dollars, gold ingots, assault weapons, a closet full
of wigs and several passports in Prigozhin's name but with photos of different people.Lukashenko said he was "not worried or concerned"
about hosting Wagner troops in his country and said they could instead be an asset.He said that, if the Wagner troops were to move to
Belarus, they would be required to sign contracts with the Belarusian government."I do not think that Wagner will rise up and turn its guns
against the Belarusian state," he said."If we need to activate these units, we will activate them immediately and their experience will be
very much appreciated."'Won't bump him off'He also spoke about ties between Prigozhin and Putin."I don't know everything about the
relationship between Putin and Prigozhin and I don't want to know everything," he said."Putin knows Prigozhin much better than me," he said,
adding: "Do you think Putin is so vindictive that he'll bump him off tomorrow? No, that's not going to happen."Lukashenko, one of Putin's
closest allies in the conflict, has let his country be used as a staging ground for the Ukraine offensive.But he insisted that Belarusian
forces would not be involved in the Ukraine conflict."Nothing..
purpose.""We are not planning to attack anyone with nuclear weapons," he said, adding however that there would be an "immediate" response if
Belarus was attacked.The Belarus leader said the tactical weapons would be deployed in their entirety to his country by the end of the
