Does the "leaked" phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko prove that Putin and Wagner PMC leader Yevgeny Prigozhin put forward a conflict resolution without Lukashenko knowing about it? No, that's not true: It was Lukashenko's own initiative to mediate in the conflict.
The claim appeared in a video on TikTok (archived here) published by zashkvarshow6 on June 25, 2023, under the title "Leaked." Some text on the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) reads:
Urgent! A phone call between Putin and Lukashenko was leaked on the internet on the topic of settling the situation with Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of PMC Wagner and his heroic march to Rostov and Moscow to eradicate the problems that had occurred with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. After Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny, the Russian Government thought hard about how to turn to advantage the staging that reached the deadlock and couldn't think of anything better but to include Belarusian President Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko in the scheme but without his knowledge.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jun 27 07:37:33 2023 UTC)
According to the Belarusian presidential press office, Lukashenko took the initiative in mediating between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, mentioning that "the negotiations lasted for the entire day" with "an absolutely advantageous and acceptable variant to defuse the situation."
Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the president of the Russian Federation, commented on June 24, 2023, that "Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] has known Prigozhin personally for a long time, nearly 20 years, and it was his own initiative coordinated with President Putin."
In a televised address, Putin expressed his gratitude to Lukashenko for his input in the reconciliation of the mutiny.
