A photo of Vladimir Putin’s ally and mutineer Yevgeny Prigozhin in his underwear at what appeared to be a Wagner group camp emerged on Friday, just as Belarusian authorities announced the mercenary group had started training troops in the country have.
The photo, released by a Telegram channel affiliated with Wagner, shows the foul-mouthed warlord sitting awkwardly on a cot, shirtless, holding up a hand to appear to wave at the camera. The channel claims the photo was taken on Wednesday, which would make it the first visual confirmation that Prigozhin is still at it since the days immediately after his violent uprising against the Russian military last month.
However, there was no way to immediately confirm this claim, and some questioned whether it was leaked on purpose to counter an ongoing campaign to slander Prigozhin in Kremlin-controlled media.
Belarusian media reported that the photo was apparently taken at a newly established Wagner fighter camp in the Mogilev region’s town of Osipovichi, where Wagner fighters have reportedly started training Belarusian troops in their ruthless tactics. According to reports, flight radar showed that Prigozhin’s private jet arrived in the country on Monday evening.
According to Portal, some Wagner fighters arrived in the area as early as Tuesday. The Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that training is already underway.
“Courses with units of the territorial troops are held near Osipovichi. The conscripts master the skills of movement on the battlefield and tactical shooting, acquire knowledge of engineering education and tactical medicine. “Wagner fighters act as instructors in a number of military disciplines,” the ministry said in a statement. The statement was accompanied by a short video noting that Wagner fighters shared their “combat experiences” with troops.
The fate of the notorious Wagner group has been the subject of intense speculation since late June, when the Kremlin shocked the world by allowing Prigozhin and his men to escape punishment after they shot down several military helicopters and killed scores of military personnel in their armed uprising on Russian territory . At the time, the Kremlin announced that Prigozhin would be allowed to move to Belarus, although it was unclear for several weeks whether this would actually happen.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has publicly admitted that the “private” mercenary army, to which the Kremlin has long denied any links, was in fact funded entirely by Moscow, now claiming that the group “does not exist”.
In comments to the Kommersant newspaper, an angered Putin reportedly recounted his June 29 meeting with commanders Prigozhin and Wagner, at which the Russian leader claimed he tried to offer them a way for all of them to “continue to serve “ could – without Prigozhin at the top.
Putin claimed several commanders took a liking to his proposal, but Prigozhin was quick to reject it, saying his fighters “would not agree to such a decision.”
With the Kremlin now trying to poach Wagner fighters from their beloved boss, the insurgency Prigozhin unleashed last month appears to have spread to the regular Russian military. Dozens of senior military officers were reportedly arrested after Wagner’s invasion, a prominent general has not been seen in public since, and a top general fired this week for accusing military leaders of covering up failures on the battlefield is already in custody Haft is praised among pro-Kremlin figures for telling the truth to those in power.
When asked about the latest rebellion in the ranks, the Kremlin only said on Friday: “We do not comment.”