Yevgeny Prigozhin has not been seen in public since the Wagner forces revolted against the Russian armed forces. In the video, Prigozhin is allegedly greeting his troops in Belarus.
Director of the Wagner group From Yevgeny Prigozhin a video of Prigozhin allegedly talking to Wagner soldiers on the soil of Belarus has been published on the messaging service Telegram on his own channel.
Prigozhin’s whereabouts and well-being have been shrouded in obscurity since the Wagner group went on a brief rebellion against the Russian armed forces at Midsummer.
The last time Prigozhin was seen in public was when he left the base of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces in Rostov on June 24.
The authenticity of the recent video cannot be verified. From the video shot in the dark of the night, it is also not possible to be sure whether the video was actually shot recently in Belarus. The silhouette of the man appearing in the video looks and the voice sounds like it belongs to Prigožin.
– Welcome to the soil of Belarus! Prigozhin greets men in a video.
He thanks the soldiers for fighting for Russia and says that what is happening on the Ukrainian front is a disgrace that Wagner should not take part in.
– We have to wait for the moment when we can show ourselves again. That’s why we decided to settle here in Belarus for a while.
Prigozhin also says in the video that Wagner makes the Belarusian army “the best in the world so far. In the video, he urges the soldiers to prepare for what is to come.
– We have a new road ahead of us, Africa!
– Maybe we will return to a military special operation [Ukrainaan] in time, when we are sure that we will not be forced to shamefully hide ourselves and our heritage, says Prigožin.