Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Saturday, June 24, 2023

Russian ally Belarus calls Wagner insurrection a ‘gift’ to West

By AFP 24 June 2023, 4:37 pm Edit

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speak during their meeting at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the resort city of Sochi, Russia, June 9, 2023. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW — Russia’s close ally Belarus says that the armed insurrection underway by the Wagner mercenary group is a “gift” to Western countries, warning the uprising could spell “disaster.”

“Any provocation, any internal conflict in military or political circles, in the information field or in civil society is a gift to the collective West,” the Belarusian foreign ministry says, citing a statement by Minsk’s Security Council.