The mercenary leader who led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin is in Russia and his Wagner troops are in their field camps, the president of Belarus said Thursday, raising new questions about the deal that ended the extraordinary challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule.
Last week, Lukashenko said the mercenary leader was in Belarus, but on Thursday he told international reporters that Prigozhin was in St. Petersburg and could also travel to Moscow if he so wishes, while Wagner's troops were in their camps. He did not specify the location of the camps, but Prigozhin's mercenaries fought alongside Russian forces in easternHe also said that Prigozhin has been given back the cash and weapons that were confiscated by Russian authorities.
The Kremlin has played down the fact that Prigozhin escaped punishment for his mutiny while other Putin's critics have been met with harsh prison sentences, exile or even death, saying that the deal with the Wagner chief was necessary to avoid massive bloodshed. A photo hanging in the mansion showed a lineup of decapitated heads. In one published image, an oversized souvenir sledgehammer could also be seen with the inscription "for important negotiations." The sledgehammer has become a symbol of Wagner after reports its troops used the tool to beat defectors to death.
During their short revolt, Prigozhin's mercenaries quickly swept through the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there before marching to within about 200 kilometres of the Russian capital. Prigozhin described it as a "march of justice" to oust his longtime foes -- the Russian defence minister and the country's chief military officer -- whose handling of the war in Ukraine he criticized.
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