Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in remarks to reporters this morning, claimed that Yevgeny Prigozhin is back in Russia. “As far as I know the Wagnerians, who are excellent fighters, are in their camps. Their permanent camps where they were after they withdrew from the front for recovery, medical treatment and so on. This is a regular rotation for such a war. After Bakhmut, they were taken to their camps, and this is where they are today,” he said, reported BelTa. “As for Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg,” the president said. ‘Where was he this morning?’ Maybe he went to Moscow, or some other place. But he is not in Belarus.”
This, of course, is making big headlines in the Western corporate media. The Associated Press’s coverage adds nothing to what BelTa reported of Lukashenko’s remarks on Prigozhin, other than to say that his statement followed Russian media reports claiming that Prigozhin had been spotted in St. Petersburg.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about Lukashenko’s remarks, told reporters that the statements made by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko made during the June 24 uprising led by Prigozhin still stand. Among other things, Putin called Prigozhin’s rebellion a betrayal of both the Russian people and of the troops fighting on the front line against Ukrainian forces. Peskov also said, “No, we are not tracking his [Prigozhin’s] whereabouts, have no possibilities and desire to do so.”
