The Kremlin claims that Yevgeny Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin met just days after the armed uprising.
Retired general Robert Abrams believes that the meeting was staged – and that the Wagner boss is no longer alive.
– If he is, he is in a prison somewhere, he tells ABC News.
On June 24, the paramilitary Wagner group carried out an armed uprising in Russia. Headed by head Yevgeny Prigozhin, they took aim at Moscow, which led Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech to the nation to promise to “respond strongly”.
The uprising ended with an agreement between Yevgeny Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin that caused the Wagner soldiers to withdraw. Most of the details of the agreement have not yet become public, but one of the things the parties agreed on was that the Wagner boss would move to Belarus.
Prigozhin dead or imprisoned
Since then, there have been questions about Yevgeny Prigozhin’s whereabouts. On Monday, the Kremlin announced that the Russian president and the head of the Wagner group met on June 29, just days after the armed uprising.
In an interview with American ABC News retired general Robert Abrams now states that the meeting probably did not take place.
– I would be surprised if we actually see any evidence that Putin met Prigozhin, and I think it is staged, he says.
The former general also says that he doubts that the Wagner boss will be seen in public in the future. According to him, it is unlikely that Yevgeny Prigozhin is alive.
– I don’t think he is. And if he is, he’s in a prison somewhere, says Robert Abrams.
“Will not find them here”
Last week, Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko, who helped broker the deal between the Wagner Group and Vladimir Putin, said Prigozhin was not in Belarus, but in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
– I spoke to him on the phone yesterday, the president said on Thursday.
Also Leonid Kasinsky, adviser to the Minister of Defense of Belarus, states that neither Yevgeny Prigozhin nor the soldiers of the Wagner Group are in the country, writes AFP.
– If you are looking for them, you will not find them here, he said.
After the statements from Belarus, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the claims that Prigozhin is in Russia.
– We do not follow his movements, he said then.