Kremlin has nothing to add on question of Wagner chief’s whereabouts

Military & Defense July 07, 2023, 13:46

Earlier, Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin was not tracking Prigozhin’s movements, having neither the opportunity nor the desire to do so

MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. The Kremlin has no information on the matter of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s current location, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

"I cannot say anything here; we do not have any information with regard to this. Neither do I have anything to add to what we said earlier," the Kremlin official said, replying to a question on the matter.

Earlier, Peskov said that the Kremlin was not tracking Prigozhin’s movements, having neither the opportunity nor the desire to do so.

On the evening of June 23, several audio recordings were posted on Prigozhin’s Telegram channel. In particular, he claimed that his units had come under attack, blaming the Russian military. In turn, the Russian Defense Ministry slammed the Wagner boss’ allegations of a military strike on the PMC’s "rear camps" as fake news. The PMC units supporting Prigozhin occupied Rostov-on-Don and then headed toward Moscow. The FSB opened a criminal case concerning calls for armed mutiny. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a televised address to the nation on June 24, described the Wagner group’s actions as an armed mutiny and a betrayal.

Later, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in coordination with Putin, held talks with Prigozhin, resulting in Wagner standing down, turning its units around, and retreating to their base camps. The Kremlin said that the Russian authorities pledged not to prosecute those Wagner PMC fighters who took part in the mutiny in light of their "frontline achievements." The criminal case on armed mutiny was dropped, the FSB said.

On June 27, Lukashenko said that he had offered the Wagner chief an abandoned military base in Belarus to station his fighters.

Read more on the site →