Belarusian President: Wagner Chief Prigozhin Is in Russia

MINSK (AP) — Russia’s mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg and his Wagner troops have remained at the camps where they had stayed before an abortive mutiny, the President of Belarus said Thursday.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko helped broker a deal for Prigozhin after his rebellion on June 24 in exchange for security guarantees for himself and his soldiers and permission to move to Belarus.

After saying last week that Prigozhin was in Belarus, Lukashenko told international reporters Thursday that the mercenary chief is in St. Petersburg and Wagner troops were still at their camps.

He did not specify the location of the camps, but Prigozhin’s mercenaries fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine before their revolt.

The rebellion saw them quickly sweep over the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and capture military headquarters there before marching on the Russian capital in what Prigozhin described as a “march of justice” to oust the Russian defense minister and the General Staff chief.

Prigozhin claimed his troops had come within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of Moscow when he ordered them to stop the advance under the deal brokered by Lukashenko.

The abortive rebellion represented the biggest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power and exposed the Kremlin’s weakness.

Lukashenko’s statement followed Russian media reports that claimed that Prigozhin was spotted in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city. His presence was seen as part of agreements that allowed him to finalize his affairs there.