President Lukashenko Says Wagner Group Leader Prigozhin Is Not In Belarus, Here Is Approximate Location Of His Presence

JAKARTA - The rebelling head of Russia's Wagner Group is no longer in Belarus and it is unclear whether its fighters will move there, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday.

President Lukashenko said on June 27 Yevgeny Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus as part of a deal to defuse the crisis, under which Wagner briefly captured the city of Rostov in southern Russia and then marched towards Moscow, only to later back down from mediation by the Belarusian leader.

However, on Thursday he said Prigozhin was not on the territory of his country.

"He is not on the territory of Belarus," President Lukashenko told a news conference in Minsk, reported Reuters June 6.

Prigozhin may now be in St Petersburg, Russia's second city, or may have moved to Moscow, President Lukashenko said.

On this occasion, he also explained that the question of relocating Wagner units to Belarus has not yet been resolved, and will depend on the decisions of Russia and Wagner.

"Whether they will be in Belarus or not, how many there will be, we will find out in the near future," he said.

His comments highlighted the grave uncertainty around the terms and implementation of the deal that ended the uprising, which Russian President Vladimir Putin said could plunge the country into civil war.

Prigozhin's men are known to have spearheaded most of the fighting in Ukraine. However, Prigozhin also accused Russian officials of corruption and incompetence.

Separately, a business jet linked to Prigozhin left St Petersburg for Moscow on Wednesday and headed for southern Russia on Thursday, according to flight-tracking data, but it was unclear whether the chief mercenary was on board. It was then tracked back to fly again.

If Prigozhin can return to Russia with impunity, it will raise new questions about the authority of President Putin, after a brief uprising that marked the most formidable challenge in his 23 years in power.

Earlier, during a virtual meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries, President Putin said the episode had shown that Russian society is more united than ever. The Kremlin refuses to get involved in discussions about Prigozhin's whereabouts.

"No, we are not following his moves, we have neither the ability nor the will to do so," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, answering journalists' questions on Thursday.

Nevertheless, he confirmed that Prigozhin's departure to Belarus was one of the conditions of the deal. "

This has already been discussed. We and Alexander Grigoryevich (Lukashenko) have talked about this."

President Lukashenko himself said he agreed to meet Putin in the near future to discuss Prigozhin's situation with him. However, Peskov said no date had been set.

Prigozhin was "absolutely free" and President Putin would not "annihilate him", said Lukashenko.

He added that the offer to Wagner to station some of his fighters in Belarus is still valid.

"We are not building camps. We are offering them several former military camps used in Soviet times, including near Osipovichi. If they agree. But Wagner had a different vision for deployment, of course, I'm not going to tell you about this vision," he explained.

President Lukashenko also said he did not see Wagner's presence in Belarus as a risk to his country, not believing Wagner would take up arms against him.

In his opinion, the Belarusian army could benefit from Wagner's expertise.