Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin – who led a short-lived rebellion in Russia last month – is in Russia and not Belarus, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko told reporters today.
Under the deal to end the stand-off, charges against Prigozhin were dropped and he was offered a move to Belarus.
But on Thursday Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko said: “As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus.”
In response to Lukashenko’s remarks the Kremlin said it was “not following” Prigozhin’s movements.
“We are not following the movements of Yevgeny Prigozhin, we have neither the opportunity nor the desire to do so,” Russian president’s Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
On Thursday Lukashenko added that “as far as I know” the rest of the Wagner fighters were still at their bases.
The Wagner Group is a private army of mercenaries that has been fighting alongside the regular Russian army in Ukraine.
