Prigozhin: Wagner chief not in Belarus, Lukashenko says

Belarusian strongman President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday said Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the private Russian paramilitary unit of mercenaries Wagner Group, was in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. 

The whereabouts of Prigozhin has been a topic of speculation since he ended a short-lived mutiny on June 24. 

Lukashenko brokered a deal to end Wagner's armed rebellion in Russia. Under the agreement, Prigozhin was set to move to Belarus, and Lukashenko confirmed on June 27 that the Wagner chief had arrived in his country. 

What did Lukashenko say about Prigozhin?

On Thursday, the Belarusian leader told reporters: "As far as Prigozhin is concerned, he is in St. Petersburg. He is not in Belarus."

The Belarusian claimed that he knows "for sure" that Prigozhin is a free man, adding that he "spoke to him on the phone yesterday."

Russia has not confirmed Lukashenko's claims. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was not tracking Prigozhin's movements. 

Lukashenko's remarks came after Russian media reports said Prigozhin was spotted in St. Petersburg, with his presence in the second-largest Russian city seen as part of agreements allowing him to finalize his affairs there. 

What about Wagner fighters?

Lukashenko said that Wagner troops still were at their camps, without specifying the location. He said their transfer to Belarus "has not been decided," and that they had not set up a base in his country yet. 

Minsk's offer for Wagner to station some troops in Belarus is still standing, Lukashenko added, stressing that he did not believe the fighters would ever take up arms against his country.

"We are not building camps. We offered them several former military camps that were used in Soviet times, including near Asipovichy, if they agree," he said, referring to the town 103 kilometers (64 miles) away from Minsk. 

"But Wagner has a different vision for deployment, of course, I won't tell you about this vision," he added.

Independent Russian news outlets have reported in recent days that several camps were already being set up in Belarus, including one near Asipovichy, with an area of 24,000 square meters, with a capacity of 8,000 beds. 

Prigozhin's aborted mutiny

Wagner fighters, led by Prigozhin, swept over the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured military headquarters there.

They were moving toward Moscow in what Prigozhin called a "march of justice" to oust Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, whom the Wagner chief had publicly criticized for months. 

After Lukashenko brokered a deal, Prigozhin claimed he ordered his fighters to halt their march on Moscow after they had come within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of the Russian capital. 

The short-lived mutiny marked the biggest threat to Russia's President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power. Western leaders have said it exposed the gaps in the Russian system. 

fb/wd (Reuters, AP)