Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed today, Tuesday, the arrival of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to the country, stating: "Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin does not mind the presence of a unit like Wagner in our army." He added, "We have not built camps for Wagner yet, but we offered one of our abandoned military bases." He noted that he "asked Putin not to assassinate the Wagner leader."
In his first comments following the announcement of Prigozhin's arrival, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised members of the Russian army and security forces during a ceremony, where he sought to reaffirm his authority after an incomplete rebellion. Speaking in front of approximately 2,500 security and National Guard personnel, as well as army members gathered in a square at the Kremlin complex, Putin stated that the people of Russia and its armed forces stood shoulder to shoulder against the Wagner Group's rebellion. Among those present was Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whose dismissal was one of the demands of the Wagner fighters during the rebellion.
Putin also asked attendees to observe a moment of silence in honor of the Russian pilots killed during the rebellion, noting that Wagner fighters shot down several planes while advancing towards Moscow, although they faced no resistance on the ground. For the first time publicly, the Russian president acknowledged that the Russian state fully financed the private military company Wagner, spending 86 billion rubles (one billion dollars) on it between May 2022 and the same month this year. He added in a meeting with security forces that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner who led last Saturday's brief rebellion, made nearly the same amount during the same period through his food and catering business. He clarified that the state supported Wagner from the Ministry of Defense's budget, pointing out that Russia's enemies would have benefited from the chaos had the rebellion succeeded.
Poland commented on Prigozhin's arrival, stating: "We want a reinforcement of NATO forces on the eastern front following Wagner's transfer to Belarus." The agreement mediated by Lukashenko that ended the Wagner Group's rebellion in Russia stipulated that Prigozhin would go to Belarus while his men were given the option to join him or integrate into the regular Russian armed forces.
Today, a plane, an "Embraer Legacy 600," registered in Russia and linked to Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, flew from Russia to Belarus. The plane's identifiers match those associated by the U.S. with "Autolux Transport," which the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control connects to Prigozhin. Flight Radar 24 indicated that the commercial plane traveled to Belarus earlier today. The aircraft departed the Rostov region at 02:32 GMT and began its descent at 04:20 GMT near Minsk. It is unclear whether it actually landed.
Flight Radar 24 did not reveal the departure point of the plane, but it showed that it was flying over the Rostov area in southern Russia. Prigozhin is expected to transfer to Belarus under an agreement mediated by President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday to halt the rebellion of the Wagner Group fighters. The Russian Defense Ministry stated today that the Wagner Group is preparing to hand over equipment to the ministry after the brief rebellion concluded. It reported that the Federal Security Service dropped the criminal charges against the Wagner fighters.
