Space Industry and Business News
WAR REPORT
Lukashenko: Wagner leader Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg, not Belarus
Lukashenko: Wagner leader Prigozhin is in St. Petersburg, not Belarus
by Paul Godfrey
Washington DC (UPI) Jul 6, 2023

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday the leader of Russia's paramilitary Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was in Russia after saying he was in Belarus last week.

Prigozhin, who was supposed to have moved to Belarus as part of a deal to defuse a mutiny by the forces of his private army, was in St. Petersburg and "not on the territory of Belarus," Lukashenko said.

He said that Wagner forces had not moved to Belarus either and remained on their bases in eastern Ukraine and southern Russia but that his offer for them to relocate to Belarus was still open.

"At present, the issue of their relocation has not been resolved," Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko added that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not seek to destroy Prigozhin because he was not "malevolent and vindictive" and said he would discuss Wagner's future with the Russian leader when he met with him in the near future.

The Kremlin also said it was "not following" Prigozhin's movements.

The exact movements of Prigozhin, are unclear apart from the fact Lukashenko confirmed his arrival in Belarus on June 27.

But flight tracking of Prigozhin's private jet carried out by the BBC shows it returned to Russia the same day, although it wasn't publicly known whether he was on board. Since then, the aircraft has made a number of flights between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The 62-year-old former chef and ex-convict has not been seen in public since leaving Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia after his mercenaries took over the city for a short time.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoed Lukashenko's claims, telling Politico that while preparations were underway in Belarus to receive Wagner fighters, few had made the journey.

"We have seen some preparations for the hosting of Wagner forces. We have so far not yet seen so many of them arriving," Stoltenberg said.

"We are, of course, closely following what's going on in Belarus. What we have seen is that the Wagner forces continue to operate in Africa," adding that while few had moved to Belarus, some remained in Ukraine "but not at the frontlines."

Stoltenberg said it was too soon to figure out the end consequences for Wagner of its failed challenge to the Putin regime.

The group was initially accused of treason, but a hasty deal, brokered in part by Lukashenko, saw charges against Prigozhin dropped, apparently in exchange for his leaving Russia for Belarus.

The criminal case against Wagner fighters was also dropped and they were given the option of signing up to the regular army, demobilizing, or following their leader to Belarus.

However, Moscow has begun investigating $2 billion worth of military contracts awarded to Wagner and Prigozhin's catering firm and breaking up his business empire, targeting his network of media outlets in particular, many of which have been blocked or shut down.

Related Links
Space War News

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
WAR REPORT
Israeli operation in West Bank officially over, as Israel strikes Gaza
Jerusalem (AFP) July 5, 2023
Israel's army on Wednesday declared the end of a two-day operation in the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank during which 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed. "The operation is officially over and the soldiers have left the Jenin area," a military spokeswoman told AFP. The Israeli military launched the raid on the Jenin refugee camp early on Monday under the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government. The raid, Israel's biggest military operation in ... read more

WAR REPORT
A quantitative analysis of the in-orbit collision risks

EU 'concerned' about China's curbs on rare metals

iQPS initiates a full-scale study to leverage SkyCompass-1 optical data relay service

Mountain of strategic metals stranded in DR Congo begins to shift

WAR REPORT
ATLAS Space launches Freedom Space for Government Missions

DoD awards Global X-Band Blanket Purchase Agreement to SES

Ensuring reliable communications between US and Partners at the tactical edge

Luxembourg Parliament Approves MGS, Enabling NATO's Access to SES's O3b mPOWER System

WAR REPORT
WAR REPORT
Northrop Grumman's new airborne navigation system achieves successful flight test

Fugro and GomSpace deliver world class position and timing accuracy onboard LEO satellites

GMV to head up Galileo ground segment after securing a new contract

LEO PNT satellite signal simulator debuts at JNC 2023 conference

WAR REPORT
Europe-wide space-enabled aviation approaches take off

DLR project HorizonUAM provides answers

US Air Force suspends personnel moves, bonuses over funding shortfall

Czech Republic to provide helicopters, F-16 training to Ukraine

WAR REPORT
Researchers grow precise arrays of nanoLEDs

Foxconn pulls from $19.4 bn deal in India to make semiconductors

China unveils new operating system amid US tensions

Superconducting qubit foundry accelerates progress in quantum research

WAR REPORT
Satellogic and OHB to collaborate on environmental earth observation applications

Huangshan dialogue advances sustainable development of heritage sites

Australia scraps billion-dollar satellite program

Maxar and Esri Expand Partnership to Visualize Precision3D in ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World

WAR REPORT
Rubbish-clearing divers come to rescue of 'pearl of Kyrgyzstan'

Hazardous 'forever chemicals' detected in nearly half of US tap water

Trial over Spanish ecological disaster starts, 25 years on

Time to act on light pollution, say leading experts at NAM conference

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.