2023-07-06 10:26:00
The founder of the group paramilitar Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhinis still in Russia, said this Thursday (6) the president of Belarus, the country he was supposed to travel to, according to the agreement with the Kremlinafter last month’s frustrated riot.
“As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in St. Petersburg. Where is he today? He may have traveled to Moscow or elsewhere, but he is not on Belarusian territory,” President Alexander Lukashenko told a foreign press conference.
He also said that the fighters of the Wagner group are also “in their fields” and not in Belarus, “at the moment”.
“Se [o governo russo e o grupo Wagner] If they deem it necessary to send a certain number of fighters from the Wagner group to Belarus for rest or training (…), then I will apply my decision to receive them,” he added.
“I don’t believe that the Wagner group will rebel and turn its weapons against the Belarusian state,” Lukashenko said.
The mercenaries’ mutiny on June 24 shook power in Russia amid the conflict with Ukraine.
For several hours, paramilitary fighters occupied a Russian army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don (southwest) and started a march towards Moscow.
The mutiny ended on the night of June 24, with an agreement that contemplated Prigozhin’s exile in Belarus; he insisted that he did not intend to overthrow the Russian government, only to prevent the dismantling of the Wagner group.
Prigozhin’s whereabouts are unknown, and he has not spoken publicly since June 26.
On Wednesday night (5), the Russian press released images of the search operation at Prigozhin’s residence in St. Petersburg, carried out during the attempted rebellion at the end of June.
The images, apparently captured by law enforcement and suddenly published in various Russian state and private media, show a large, luxurious mansion, with a helicopter in the garden.
During the search, according to the recordings, the agents found bundles of dollars and rubles, gold bars, several weapons, passports with different names and a closet full of wigs.
Petersburg-based news website Fontanka reported that investigators also found a photograph of “severed heads” at the residence. The Wagner group’s mercenaries are often accused of abuse.
The page also published a photograph of a mallet in a room in the house, whose metal head bears the phrase: “In case of important negotiations”.
The mallet is one of the symbols of the Wagner group, which boasts of using the weapon to execute or torture enemies.
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