Musical chairs

Wagner chief Prigozhin isn’t in Belarus, says Lukashenko

‘Maybe he went to Moscow, maybe somewhere else,’ says the Belarusian dictator.

BY GABRIEL GAVIN AND ALI WALKER

Mutinous warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin is not currently in Belarus, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday morning, hinting the Wagner Group founder could still be in Russia.

“As for Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg. Where is he this morning? Maybe he went to Moscow, maybe somewhere else, but he is not on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko said, according to Belarusian state media.

The Belarusian strongman added that, “as far as I know,” Wagner’s fighters have remained at their encampments following Prigozhin’s announcement that they would stand down from their march on Moscow to avoid further bloodshed.

The mercenary chief was supposed to be in Belarus, after being exiled from Russia following an aborted mutiny he led against Moscow’s military establishment in June.

Last week, Lukashenko claimed Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus, having taken credit for brokering a cease-fire between Wagner and Moscow’s forces as its mercenaries closed in on the capital.

Since then, his whereabouts have been a mystery, with his private jet having landed in Minsk and unverified sightings of the outspoken oligarch taking social media by storm.

However, speaking to POLITICO on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Prigozhin’s men had not moved en masse to the neighboring country.

“We have seen some preparations for the hosting of Wagner forces,” Stoltenberg said, while adding “we have so far not yet seen so many of them arriving.”

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave Prigozhin’s fighters three choices — return to the front lines in Ukraine as regular Russian soldiers; go back to their families; or join their leader in Belarus.

“Wagner Group soldiers are also patriots, loyal to the state, they have proven this in combat,” the embattled Russian leader said. “They were used blindly, forced to turn on their comrades with whom they fought shoulder to shoulder.”