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MOSCOW (AP) — A video released Wednesday shows Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, for the first time since leading a short-lived mutiny last month, telling his troops he will spend some time training his forces in Belarus before deploying to Africa.
Messaging app channels linked to Prigozhin’s private military company Wagner said he spoke at a field camp in Belarus and played a blurred video purportedly showing him there, his portrait visible against the sky at dusk. His deep voice was clearly distinguishable.
“Welcome! I’m glad to welcome you all. Welcome to the Belarusian land!” The video shows him saying: “We fought with honor! We have done a lot for Russia.”
Prigozhin’s rebellion, which posed the most serious threat to President Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule, was said by the mercenary chief to be aimed at ousting Russia’s top military leaders whom he accused of incompetence.
Prigozhin’s criticisms about the conduct of the fighting in Ukraine were reiterated in the new video, the authenticity of which could not be immediately verified.
“What is happening on the front line today is a matter of shame in which we should not participate,” he said. He said that Wagner forces could return to Ukraine in the future.
Prigozhin, using the same words, said, “We can return to special military operations when we are sure that we will not be forced to embarrass ourselves.” The Kremlin referred to the fighting in Ukraine using the same term.
“We have to wait for the moment when we can show ourselves fully,” he said. “So it has been decided that we will spend some time here in Belarus. During that time we will make the Belarusian army the second strongest army in the world. We will train, raise our level and leave for a new journey in Africa.
In addition to his involvement in Ukraine, Wagner’s mercenaries have been sent to Syria and several African countries since forming the private army in 2014.
Under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to end his insurgency in exchange for amnesty for himself and his fighters and permission to relocate to Belarus.
Before leaving for Belarus, Wagner handed over his weapons to the Russian military, part of the Russian authorities’ efforts to reduce the threat posed by the mercenaries.
Until the video was posted on Wednesday, Prigozhin had released only a few audio messages following the uprising – a stark contrast to his almost daily barrage of inflammatory statements prior to the events of June 23–24. Some saw the accord as a sign that he was bound to tone down his rhetoric and stay away from politics.
Over the past week, several Wagner convoys have been seen traveling through Belarus waving the Russian flag and Wagner insignia, heading to the field camp that the Belarusian authorities offered the company.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC and an analysis by The Associated Press show a convoy of vehicles at the base near Tsel in Belarus’ Asipovichi region, about 90 kilometers (about 55 miles) southeast of Minsk. Pictures taken on Monday showed a long line of vehicles leaving the highway.
Belaruski Hajun, an activist group that monitors troop movements in Belarus, said several convoys with Wagner fighters had entered the country since last week, including at least 170 vehicles on Tuesday. It is estimated that around 2,500 Wagner mercenaries are now in Belarus.
On Monday, a messaging app channel linked to the contractor played a video showing the Russian and Wagner flags being lowered at the mercenaries’ main home base in Molkino in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region. The channel said the base would be closing on July 30, and one of the mercenaries in the video announced that Wagner was moving to unspecified new locations. Wagner also used camps in the Luhansk region of the Russian-occupied Ukraine.
In a video posted on Wednesday, Prigozhin presented the flag to the mercenaries.
Prigozhin said that the Belarusians met them “not just as heroes, but as brothers” and he joked that “the local girls are whispering longingly that Wagner’s soldiers have arrived. Be careful not to offend any of them, let us treat them with brotherhood.”
Lukashenko has said his country’s military could benefit from the combat experience of mercenaries and rejected claims their presence could destabilize the ex-Soviet nation. Last week, Belarusian state TV aired video of Wagner instructors training the Territorial Defense Forces of Belarus.
In their mutiny that began on 23 June and lasted less than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries stormed the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and captured the military headquarters there without firing a shot, before moving to within 200 kilometers (125 mi) of Moscow.
The insurgency met little resistance and mercenaries shot down at least six military helicopters and a command post aircraft, killing at least 10 airmen.
Prigozhin called it a “march of justice” to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and General Staff Chief General Valery Gerasimov, who had demanded that the Wagner Forces sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense. He ordered his troops to return to their camps after reaching a settlement to end the rebellion, the terms of which still remain unclear.
Putin announced that the Wagner soldiers had a choice between signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense, going to Belarus, or retiring from service. He said last week that he met with Prigozhin and 34 Wagner officers on 29 June and offered them the option of continuing to operate as a unit under their own commander.
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