Yevgeny Prigozhin says the Wagner Group has relocated to Belarus ‘for the time being’

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The Wagner paramilitary group has relocated to Belarus “for the time being” before going to fight in Africa, with its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin saying the group could later rejoin Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In the dimly lit video, filmed in a field and posted on Wednesday by a channel linked to Wagner, the warlord welcomes a group of men to Belarus, indicating that he has joined them after last month’s failed uprising against the Defense Ministry. had left Russia.

Prigozhin said, “What is happening at the front is a disgrace in which we do not need to participate. We need to wait for the moment when we can show what we are worth.” “So it has been decided that we will stay here in Belarus for the time being.”

Wagner agreed to relocate after Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko signed an 11th-hour deal in June to end the group’s insurgency against the army, which Prigozhin accused of mismanaging the war effort. have put.

However, Prigozhin’s fate in the weeks following the failed rebellion was unclear. Generally happy with the publicity, the former caterer, known as “Putin’s chef”, appeared to have spent several weeks in Russia and met Putin at a round table conference in the Kremlin.

There, Putin later said, Wagner declined an offer to continue fighting in Ukraine under its de facto commander, Andrei Troshev, but without Prigozhin’s instruction.

A highly decorated Wagner fighter, referred to as a “zombie”, later told a pro-war news outlet that Prigozhin and his top subordinates retained the loyalty of the men.

He added, “He is the soul and mind of Wagner, uniting it with his ideas, bubbling activity and results-oriented approach.” “I’m either in Wagner PMC (private military company) with him, or I’ll be happily relaxing at home in front of the TV. And that’s what everyone thinks.”

Belarus’ defense ministry last week posted footage of Wagner fighters training local units, claiming the paramilitary would secure key infrastructure.

Prior to his departure, Russian state media showed footage of the Ministry of Defense taking control of Wagner’s heavy weaponry, indicating that he had surrendered it as part of a deal to quell the rebellion.

Wagner’s new base is near the town of Osipovichi, where Belarus had set up a tent camp to house them, with the group’s anonymous fighters saying they have closed their headquarters in Molkino in southern Russia.

Prigozhin’s location was not immediately clear when the video was filmed.

Prigozhin said that Wagner would “make the army of Belarus the second army in the world and be with them if the need arises” before “gathering his strength and leaving for Africa”, where the group had spent years as mercenaries. I have fought in a proxy war.

“We can return (to the fighting in Ukraine) when we are convinced that we will not have to humiliate ourselves and our experience,” Prigozhin said.

The video showed a man who said he was Wagner’s top commander, Dmitry Utkin, telling people that their work had only just begun.

“Thanks to you, the name of Wagner PMC has made a splash all over the world. This is not the end. This is only the beginning of a bigger work that we are soon going to do. Welcome to hell,” he continued.