MOSCOW - Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday he had urged his ally President Vladimir Putin not to kill the head of the mercenary Wagner group, which last week attempted to topple Russia’s top brass.

Mr Lukashenko, a long-time ally of Mr Putin, claimed to have negotiated an end to the armed insurrection and has said he will take in exiled rebels and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

“I said to Putin: we could waste (Prigozhin), no problem. If not on the first try, then on the second. I told him: don’t do this,” Mr Lukashenko said, during a meeting with security officials, according to state media.

Mr Lukashenko earlier confirmed Mr Prigozhin, who led the deadly march on Moscow last week, will be in Belarus on Tuesday, under a deal that ended his revolt.

The 68-year-old authoritarian leader has been hit with Western sanctions for cracking down on opposition figures and allowing Russia to attack Ukraine last year from Belarusian territory.

Kremlin critics have accused Mr Putin of orchestrating the killings of several prominent government opposition figures and the near-fatal poisoning of politician Alexei Navalny. AFP