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Where is Prigozhin now? What we know about Wagner Group leader’s movements after coup as jet lands in Belarus

The world watched on in shock over the weekend as Russian mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin advanced hundreds of miles towards Moscow with his Wagner Group army in what looked like a full blown coup.

But less than 24 hours later, Mr Prigozhin had reached an apparent deal with Vladimir Putin and called off the mutiny when his troops were just hours away from the Russian capital.

It emerged that the Wagner chief had agreed to go into exile in neighbouring Belarus, which is ruled by Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Mr Putin.

However, Mr Prigozhin’s current whereabouts remain unclear. Here’s what we know about his movements following the coup:

When Mr Prigozhin suddenly called off Wagner’s advance towards Moscow on Saturday, it was announced that he had agreed to go into exile in Belarus.

It has been reported that the chief of the paramilitary group reached the agreement after threats to his family had been made. Few details of the deal have been released either by the Kremlin or Mr Lukashenko, who brokered it.

It’s currently unclear whether Mr Prigozhin is in Belarus. On Monday, reports emerged that he was staying at Green City Hotel in the capital of Minsk, however this has not been confirmed.

On Tuesday morning a plane linked to Mr Prigozhin landed close to Minsk, however it has not yet been confirmed whether he was on board.

Yevgeny Prigozhin , the founder of the Wagner private military group, poses with mercenaries on 25 May 2023 (Photo: Concord/Handout via Reuters)
Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin poses with mercenaries “Biber” and “Dolik” (Photo: REUTERS)

On Monday, Mr Prigozhin released an 11-minute audio message in which he claimed Wagner’s march to Moscow on Saturday had been a “march” to protest “injustice” rather than an attempt to “overthrow the country’s Government”.

Describing why he decided to call off the march, he said: “We felt that the demonstration of what we were going to do was enough. And our decision to turn back was influenced by two most important factors.

“The first factor was that we did not want to shed Russian blood.

“The second factor was that we were going for a demonstration of our protest, not to overthrow the government in the country.”

He said Mr Lukashenko had “extended his hand and offered to find solutions for the further operation of Wagner in a legitimate jurisdiction”.

However, he did not give any indication in the video of his whereabouts or what his future plans are.

On Monday, Mr Putin made his first TV address following the weekend rebellion.

Visibly angry, Mr Putin said the uprising was “doomed to failure” and claimed he “made steps to avoid large-scale bloodshed”.

Mr Putin did not refer to Mr Prigozhin by name, but said the leader of the rebellion “betrayed their country, their people”.

He did not reveal any details of the deal that had been struck with the Wagner boss.

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