2023-06-28 02:49:00
Photo: AFP
Belarus announced on Tuesday the arrival of the head of the Russian Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, as part of an agreement that ended an armed rebellion in Russia that challenged the authority of President Vladimir Putin and the military leadership right in the midst of a strong rebound of the fighting in Ukraine.
Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko said Prigozhin and some of his fighters were welcome “for a while” at his expense.
In Russia, meanwhile, The Russian Defense Ministry announced preparations underway for Wagner’s mercenaries to hand over their heavy weapons to the Russian Army, after Prigozhin himself said his troops would lay down their weapons by July 1, deadline for them to sign contracts to serve in the Russian Armed Forces.
Also this Tuesday, Russian authorities said they had closed the criminal investigation into the armed uprising and that no charges will be brought against Prigozhin or his mercenary troops under the agreement with the Kremlin that put an end to his insurrection, and which was mediated by Lukashenko, an ally of Putin and a friend of Wagner’s boss.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said its investigation concluded that those involved in the riot, which lasted less than 24 hours, “they ceased their activities aimed at committing the crime” of insurrection.
Still, President Putin appeared to lay the groundwork for the possible filing of financial crime charges against a catering company also owned by Prigozhin.
In a meeting with military chiefs, the president said that the Concord Catering company had won 80 billion rubles (about 940 million dollars) for a contract to supply the Army with food, and that the Wagner Group had received 86 billion rubles (plus of 1,000 million dollars) last year in wages.
“I hope that while that was being done, nothing was stolen or not so much was stolen,” Putin said, adding that authorities will investigate the Concord contract.
Prigozhin was hosted by Belarusian President Lukashenko
Prigozhin has had very juicy contracts with the Russian government for years.
Police searched its St. Petersburg offices over the weekend and said they found 4 billion rubles ($48 million) in a truck parked outside. Prigozhin confirmed the find and said that it was money to pay the families of his soldiers.
Over the weekend, the Kremlin had promised not to prosecute Prigozhin or his fighters after they stopped his revolt, even though Putin branded them traitors and despite the fact that the Russian army had to deploy tanks and soldiers in Moscow while mercenaries and their leader marched towards the capital.
Despite Lukashenko’s announcement, it was unclear where exactly Prigozhin was on Tuesday.
Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 29 years with political and financial support from Russia, said the rebellion was the result of mishandling rivalries between Wagner and the Russian military.which have been on the rise since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.
Prigozhin, whose fighters fought in Ukraine for Russia and won important victories, said several times that his revolt was against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, not Putin.
Wagner’s boss accused Shoigu of having ordered a bombing raid against Wagner positions in the Ukraine that killed 30 of his men. Outraged, he left the Ukraine with his fighters and seized a military headquarters in a southern Russian city from where he advanced on Moscow.
Photo: AFP
200 kilometers from the capital, he stopped his march when the Kremlin announced an agreement for him to go into exile in Belarus, mediated by Lukashenko.
Lukashenko said Tuesday that he had placed the Belarusian army on combat alert as the uprising in Russia unfolded and that he urged Putin not to rush his response.to prevent the conflict from getting out of control, reported the AFP news agency.
“I told Putin: he can be killed, it’s not a problem. Either on the first try or on the second. But I advised him not to do it,” Lukashenko said. before Belarusian officials, according to a video broadcast by the Belarusian Telegram channel Pool Pervogo.
Like Putin, President Lukashenko described the war in Ukraine as an existential threat.
“If Russia collapses, we all perish under the rubble”he pointed.
The mercenaries shot down six military helicopters and a military communications plane, killing some 15 soldiers, according to Russian media.
The Ministry of Defense did not provide information on casualties.
Photo: AFP
In a message to the nation late Monday, Putin said the uprising had been organized by functional “traitors” to Russia’s, Ukraine’s and the West’s enemies, but had been unsuccessful.
He thanked the Russian people for unity, and also the Wagner fighters “that they were not behind the fratricidal bloodbath”while offering them to enlist in the Army or go into exile in Belarus.
This Tuesday, in a speech in the Kremlin before soldiers and security officials, Putin praised them for having avoided a “civil war”.
“You opposed these riots, the result of which would inevitably have been chaos,” Putin said. during the ceremony.
Looking grave, the president observed a minute’s silence in homage to the Army pilots killed by the mutineers while “fulfilling their duty with honor.”
Analysts believe that this crisis could weaken Russian forces in Ukraine, although Putin said Tuesday that “We didn’t have to withdraw combat units from the area of the special military operation.”
Meanwhile, the conflict continues its course and Pope Francis’ envoy for peace in Ukraine, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, will travel to Moscow on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Vatican.
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