Prigozhin also owns a corporate conglomerate headquartered in St. Petersburg.
(Photo: dpa)
Minsk According to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the head of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is in Russia and no longer in Belarus. “As for Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko told the press on Thursday. “He’s absolutely free.”
Lukashenko said he was convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he is closely allied, would “not wipe out” Prigozhin. He will discuss the Prigozhin case with Putin at a meeting. On June 27, a few days after the mercenary mutiny, Lukashenko announced that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus.
The fighters of the Russian mercenary force are in their permanent camps, Lukashenko said. He also offered that some of them could be stationed in Belarus after their mutiny. He sees no danger for his country in this. In the west, however, the prospect was met with great concern, particularly in the NATO states of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, which border Belarus directly.
In June, Prigozhin, who hails from St. Petersburg, led a rebellion of his mercenaries and sent them on what he called the “March of Justice” toward Moscow. They took control of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, where the Russian military has its headquarters for the war in Ukraine. A few hundred kilometers from the Russian capital, he broke off the short-lived mutiny.
According to Lukashenko, he mediated between Prigozhin and Putin. According to this June 24 agreement, Putin promised Prigozhin and his fighters impunity and exile in Belarus. Details – such as what will become of Prigozhin’s company – were not disclosed.
>> Read here: Is Prigozhin safe in Belarus? “As a KGB man, Putin will take revenge”
Prigozhin created not only the private army. His corporate conglomerate also includes a giant catering company with government contracts. He has military and mining contracts in Africa, and his mercenaries are active in Mali, Syria and Libya, among other places. He also owns the media group Patriot Media, which is to be closed. The failed mercenary rebellion puts the fate of Prigozhin’s entire corporate network in question.
Prigozhin’s rebellion was directed against the Russian military leadership, which he has long accused of incompetence in the war against Ukraine. The Wagner mercenaries were an important support of the Russian military, especially in the fight in eastern Ukraine. The Russian leadership offered the mercenaries to go to Belarus, join the regular armed forces or retire to private life.
More: The Wagner company – what remains of the highly profitable Prigozhin empire?