“We lack the will”
The Kremlin allegedly knows nothing about Prigozhin’s whereabouts
7/6/2023 2:22 p.m
Wagner boss Prigozhin was actually supposed to leave for Belarus after his failed uprising. Belarus’ ruler Lukashenko, meanwhile, claims that Prigozhin is not staying there, but is in Russia. The Kremlin claims to know nothing about it.
According to the Kremlin, it has not been informed of the whereabouts of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. “No, we are not following Yevgeny Prigozhin’s relocation, we lack the means and the will to do so,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency. After the failed uprising by Prigozhin’s private army Wagner against Russia’s military leadership almost two weeks ago, one of the conditions for an amnesty was the oligarch’s departure to Belarus.
This condition is still in force, confirmed Peskow. Belarus’ ruler Alexander Lukashenko had previously stated that, to his knowledge, Prigozhin was in the Russian metropolis of St. Petersburg. “He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko said at a press conference. The headquarters of Prigozhin’s Concord corporate empire and his residence are located in St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, photos of Prigozhin’s residence have been circulating in the Russian media since Wednesday. These were made during house searches on the day of the revolt. In addition to the luxurious furnishings of the property, you can also see weapons, gold and large amounts of money that were stored there. However, Prigozhin is said to have gotten these possessions back in the meantime. The publication of the photos apparently serves to damage the image of a simple man from the people that he has built up himself.
Prigozhin’s mercenary force has long been involved in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. At the end of June he claimed that his fighters had been surprisingly attacked in their camps by the Russian army on the orders of Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
He then had his mercenaries march into the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and at the same time set a military column in motion towards Moscow. After negotiations with the Kremlin, in which Lukashenko acted as a mediator, Prigozhin recalled his troops just before the Russian capital.