Johnson: Prigozhin’s murder is example of negotiations with Putin

The assassination of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner private military company, could not have taken place without Putin’s instructions. The incident proves there is no point in negotiating with the Russian president, Boris Johnson, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said.

“With these murders Putin is being transformed before our eyes into an Asiatic despot, slaughtering his former favourite just to show who is boss, revelling in his ruthlessness,” Johnson writes.

Putin’s victory would be a disaster for democracy around the world, Johnson believes. Therefore, Ukraine’s allies should not dwell on the fate of the Russian president but continue to support the state that he decided to seize, the UK politician added.

“If Putin were to win, it would be a vindication of all those who say that you can’t rely on the West, and that they won’t stick with you and see things through. … Look at that tumbling plane, all you who tell me we can have a negotiated solution, or that we must somehow encourage the Ukrainians to trade land for peace,” Johnson concluded. 

Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, also stated that Prigozhin tried to negotiate with Putin but in the end “ceased to exist.”

The Wagner leaders, together with Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in the Tver Oblast of Russia on the evening of August 23 – exactly two months after Wagner’s “rebellion.”