Belarus President Reveals Wagner Chief Prigozhin, Who Almost Overthrew Putin, Has Returned To Russia After Kremlin Raided His Mansion

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who marched his mercenary forces against Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, has returned to Russia after the Kremlin raided his mansion in St. Petersburg.

The longtime leader of Belarus appeared to distant himself from Prigozhin while talking with western media outlets. Lukashenko made it clear that neither Prigozhin nor his Wagner mercenaries were in the country after signing a deal weeks ago that ended an attempted march on Moscow.

“He is in St Petersburg. Or maybe this morning he would travel to Moscow or elsewhere,” Lukashenko told CNN correspondent Matthew Chance. “But he is not on the territory of Belarus now.”

Last month Lukashenko reportedly coordinated a deal between the Kremlin and Prigozhin that guaranteed the Wagner leader and his soldiers amnesty from criminal charges in exchange for them moving to Belarus.

Prigozhin’s forces left Ukraine left month and captured the city of Rostov before starting their march to Moscow in order to remove Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. At the time, Putin disavowed the coup and vowed to punish the organizers.

The coup represented the most existential threat to Putin’s regime since he took control of Russia over two decades ago.

Despite the reported peace deal, Prigozhin has not been seen publicly since the coup’s failure on June 24th. Russia media released footage of Russian special forces raiding the mercenary chief’s office and residence in St. Petersburg, where he had a stash of money, wigs, weapons, and several passports.

Watch above via CNN.