OAN’s Roy Francis
10:20 AM – Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Yevgeny Prigozhin has relocated to Belarus days after his short-lived rebellion on Saturday in which he led thousands of his men on a march towards Moscow.
A jet that is linked to Prigozhin, the Wagner Group chief, has reportedly landed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk city, on Tuesday morning. According to Reuters, the jet is linked to Prigozhin though sanctions documents that were filed by the United States.
Prigozhin has relocated to Belarus after a deal was struck with the Kremlin where he had agreed to relocate to the neighboring country in order to go into exile, while his forces would disband and not be prosecuted for their actions.
According to The Associated Press, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed that the Wagner Group chief had landed in Belarus on Tuesday, and that any of his troops would be welcome to stay in the country “for some time.”
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin had called everyone in the Wagner Group traitors, the Kremlin have said that part of the deal that ended the rebellion was that there will be no charges filed against anyone involved.
On Monday, Prigozhin gave his first public remarks since he had ordered his troops to stand down. He doubled down on his reasoning that he had marched on Moscow because of an airstrike against his forces that was carried out by Russian forces. He said that he had marched to show their opposition to corrupt Russian officials.
He also explained the reasons why he had abandoned the rebellion.
“The first was that we didn’t want to shed Russian blood. The second was that we marched to demonstrate our opposition, not to overthrow the government,” he said.
Prigozhin had led his Wagner Group on a “march for justice” with the aim of fighting “corruption, deceit, and bureaucracy” in Moscow after the airstrike on his men.
However, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu denied the accusations that the Russian military was responsible for the strike.
Along the way, the group had seized control of Russian military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and had shot down at least one helicopter.
While on the outskirts of Moscow, Lukashenko had called Prigozhin and struck a deal between them and the Kremlin, so the Wagner Group had halted their advances.
Part of the deal that was struck, along with Prigozhin’s exile into Belarus, was that the Wagner Group would be dismantled and the members would have to either relocate to Belarus, sign with the official Russian military, or go home.
Russia’s independent news website, Vertska, reported that Belarus is constructing camps for Wanger forces that are relocating to the country. The camps will be located in the Mogilev region, around 125 miles from Ukraine, and will be able to house up to 8,000 personnel.
Further details about the deal remain unknown.
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