MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg and his Wagner troops remained in camps where they had stayed before a short-lived mutiny against Moscow, Belarus’ president said Thursday.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko helped broker a deal for Prigozhin to end his rebellion on June 24 in return for amnesty and security guarantees for himself and his soldiers and permission to travel to Belarus.
However, few details of the deal emerged, and the fate and future of the Wagner Company leader and his private army remained unclear. The Kremlin declined to comment on Prigozhin’s location or movements since the failed uprising.
After saying last week that Prigozhin was in Belarus, Lukashenko told international reporters on Thursday that the mercenary leader was in St. Petersburg and that Wagner’s troops were still in their camps.
He did not specify the location of the camps, but the Prigozhin mercenaries fought alongside Russian forces in eastern Ukraine before their revolt.
Lukashenko said his government had offered Wagner, a private military contractor founded by Prigozhin, the use of Belarusian military camps, but the company had not made a final decision.
When asked if Prigozhin and his mercenaries were going to move to Belarus, Lukashenko evasively replied that it would depend on the decisions of Chief Wagner and the Russian government. The Belarusian leader said he does not believe Wagner’s presence in Belarus could lead to the destabilization of his country.
During their short revolt, they quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there before marching on the Russian capital. Prigozhin described it as a “march of justice” to oust Russia’s defense minister and chief of general staff.
Prigozhin claimed his troops had approached about 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) from Moscow when he ordered them to halt the advance as part of the deal brokered by Lukashenko.
The failed rebellion posed the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power and exposed the Kremlin’s weakness, eroding Putin’s authority.
The Wagner fighters faced little resistance, breaking through occasional roadblocks and shooting down at least six helicopters and a command post aircraft, killing at least 10 airmen.
Lukashenko’s statement follows Russian media reports that Prigozhin was spotted in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city. His presence was perceived as part of agreements that allowed him to finalize his affairs there.
Russian media claimed that Prigozhin had recovered cash confiscated during searches of his offices and a small arsenal of weapons he kept at his home in St. Petersburg.
Russian online newspaper Fontanka posted videos and photos of the lavish Prigozhin mansion and some personal items, including a collection of wigs of different colors. He also posted a collection of selfies that showed him posing in various foreign wigs and uniforms, an apparent reflection of Wagner’s deployments in Syria and several African countries.
Lukashenko said he warned Prigozhin that he and his troops would be destroyed if they failed to reach an agreement to end their mutiny and that Belarus would send a brigade to help protect Moscow.
He argued that the rebellion could lead to major bloodshed and plunge Russia into civil war.
“We had to nip it in the bud. It was very dangerous, as history shows,” Lukashenko said.