Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group스포츠토토, a Russian mercenary company, made his position public through a video for the first time since the armed rebellion.
According to Reuters and others on the 19th (local time), Prigogine released a video through Telegram showing the welcome of the Wagner mercenaries who arrived in Belarus.
Reuters could not confirm the authenticity, but described it as the first video evidence of Prigozhin’s whereabouts after the mutiny.
Although it was filmed in a dark place, Prigogine’s face did not come out clearly. However, the silhouette and way of speaking suggest that the person in the video is Prigojin.
“Welcome to Belarus,” he said. “We fought with honor and you did a lot for Russia.”
But he said, “What’s happening on the Ukrainian front lately is a disgrace that we don’t have to be involved in. Perhaps at some point we can be sure we won’t disgrace ourselves, we can return to special military operations.” said.
“We will make the Belarusian army the second largest in the world and fight for them if necessary,” he said. It is not confirmed whether the world’s first army was referring to its native Russia.
Prigogine urged his soldiers to gather strength for a ‘new trip to Africa’, telling them to treat the locals well. Africa is the main arena where the Wagner Group has been receiving various benefits in exchange for supporting governments.
“This is not the end, it is only the beginning of the world’s greatest work that will soon begin,” said Dmitry Utkin, one of Prigogin’s closest associates and co-founder of the Wagner Group, and then said in English, “Welcome to hell.”
Prigozhin had achieved success by occupying Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, but in the process, he accused the military of not giving him ammunition to keep him in check.
After abruptly stopping the rebellion, he moved to Belarus and is now known to be traveling between Belarus and Russia.
The Ministry of Defense of Belarus recently announced that Wagner mercenaries are educating Belarusian soldiers at a camp built around Asipovichi, a small town near the capital Minsk, and photos of Prigozhin staying at the camp were also released.
