Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin according to the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko in Russia and not in Belarus. “As for Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg. He is not in Belarus,” Lukashenko told foreign journalists in Minsk on Thursday. According to the Kremlin, a revolt by Wagner’s mercenaries ended in late June with an agreement that Prigozhin should go into exile in Belarus.
Fighters from the Wagner mercenary group are also currently not in Belarus, Lukashenko added at the press conference. However, he agreed to accept “a certain number” of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus. The headquarters of Prigozhin’s Concord business empire and his residence are located in Petersburg.
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Photos of the search of Prigozhin’s house in St. Petersburg published
Meanwhile, Russian media released footage of a search of Prigozhin’s home in St. Petersburg during his uprising in late June. Several Russian state and private media on Wednesday night published images apparently taken by law enforcement agencies of a large luxurious house with a helipad in the garden.
What the researchers found
According to the images, investigators found bundles of dollars and rubles, gold bars, numerous weapons, but also several passports with different names and a closet full of wigs. Petersburg-based website Fontanka also reported that a photo with “dismembered heads” was found in Prigozhin’s home. Prigozhin fighters were repeatedly accused of aggression.
Fontanka also posted a photo showing a large sledgehammer. The metal head bears the words “For important negotiations”. The sledgehammer is one of the symbols of the Wagner group. The force claims to use this weapon to execute or torture its enemies.
Wagner Revolt in June
In June, Prigozhin, who hails from St. Petersburg, led a rebellion by his mercenaries and sent them on what he called a “March of Justice” towards Moscow. He stopped the riot a few hundred kilometers from the Russian capital. According to his own statements, Lukashenko had between Prigozhin and the Russian president Vladimir Putin mediated. Putin assured Prigozhin and his fighters that they would go unpunished and go into exile in Belarus.
However, his exact whereabouts are still unknown. Prigozhin last spoke publicly on June 26.
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Prigozhin’s rebellion was directed against the Russian military leadership, which he has long accused of incompetence in the war against Ukraine. Wagner mercenaries were an important supporter of the Russian military, especially in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Kremlin knows nothing about it
According to the Kremlin, however, it was not informed about the whereabouts of the mercenary leader Prigozhin. “No, we are not following the relocation of Yevgeny Prigozhin, we lack the ability and will to do so,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Thursday by the Interfax news agency.
One of the conditions for Prigozhin’s amnesty was the oligarch’s departure to Belarus. This condition is still in effect, Peskow confirmed.