SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 13 February 2025, Thursday |

Kremlin says it does not know Prigozhin’s whereabouts

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it had no information on the whereabouts of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin who led a brief mutiny on Saturday.

Under the terms of a deal that ended the mutiny, Prigozhin was to be allowed to move to Belarus, and his fighters were given the chance to join Russia’s regular armed forces or to move to Belarus with him.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a regular news briefing that the deal ending the mutiny was being implemented, and that President Vladimir Putin always kept his word.

He said he did not know how many Wagner fighters would sign contracts with the Defense Ministry following the deal.

Russian authorities said Tuesday they have closed a criminal investigation into the armed rebellion led by Prigozhin, with no charges against him or any of the other participants.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said its investigation found that those involved in the mutiny “ceased activities directed at committing the crime,” so the case would not be pursued.

An independent Belarusian military monitoring project Belaruski Hajun said a business jet that Prigozhin reportedly uses landed near Minsk on Tuesday morning.

The media team for Prigozhin, the 62-year-old head of the Wagner private military contractor, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Source:
  • Asharq Al-Awsat