Rebel Russian mercenary group chief Yevgeny Progozhin today arrived in Belarus from Russia, said Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
“I see that Prigozhin is already flying on this plane. Yes, indeed, he is in Belarus today,” Lukashenko told the Belarusian state TV.
CNN TV, meanwhile, said a senior European intelligence official told the TV earlier that it appeared two private planes which were “linked to” Prigozhin landed in Minsk early Tuesday morning.
Reuters news agency and Japan’s NHK earlier reported that a jet believed to be carrying the Russia’s mercenary group Wagner chief today arrived in Belarus from Russia.
“Flight tracking service Flightradar24's website showed an Embraer Legacy 600 jet, bearing identification codes that match a plane linked to Prigozhin in US sanctions documents, descending to landing altitude near the Belarus capital Minsk,” Reuters news agency said.
The flight tracker first detected the plane above Rostov, the southern Russian city Prigozhin's fighters captured on Saturday.
The NHK referring to an independent Belarusian group also reported says a private jet apparently owned by Prigozhin landed at a military airfield near the Belarusian capital Minsk.
No news outlet, however, could not confirm if Prigozhin was onboard the plane.
No news outlet visibly could obtain any photographs of the rebel mercenary leader after his arrival in Belarus while the exiled mercenary boss has not made any new statement.
BBC reported that Lukashenko offered Wagner fighters abandoned military bases in Belarus if they wanted to join their leader in exile.
“It’s too early to know how many Wagner fighters have entered Belarus, or how many may plan to travel there,” BBC commented.
Quoting Lukashenko Reuters, meanwhile, reported that Belarus offered Wagner chief one of the abandoned military bases where Wagner chief and his accomplices could make their makeshift abode but there were no plans to open any Wagner recruitment centres in Belarus.
“Please - we have a fence, we have everything - put up your tents," Lukashenko said, according to Reuters news agency.
The development came three days after he led an aborted mutiny against the Russian military while after initial vow to expose him to stern actions by Russian leadership, Moscow subsequently said criminal charges brought against Prigozhin-led Wagner group following the aborted mutiny over the weekend, which challenged the military's handling of the war in Ukraine, was dropped.
After the weekend’s abortive rebellion Prigozhin halted his Wagner fighters from marching towards the Russian capital and said he would go to neighbouring Belarus, a major Russian ally under President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered a deal in consultation with Moscow to quell the revolt.
But details of his proposed journey into exile were not made public while the mercenary leader was last seen in public on Saturday night, smiling and high-fiving bystanders as he rode out of Rostov in the back of an SUV after ordering his men to stand down.
He was last seen in public on Saturday night while he was seen smiling and high-fiving bystanders as he rode out of Rostov in the back of an SUV after ordering his men to stand down.
Russia said today it prepared to take possession of heavy military hardware held by Wagner as Moscow moved to bring the mercenary group under its control after its aborted mutiny while asked Wagner members to join the regular Russian armed forces, or go back to their families or go Belarus in exile.
How the rebellion was halted
State-run Belarus news agency BELTA is yet to carry any report on Prigizhin’s arrival but released a detailed report how Lukashenko-brokered negotiation went on with the rebel leader to stop the armed mutiny, in the words of the Belarusian head of state himself as he presented shoulder boards to high-ranking military officers.
According to Lukashenko, Belarus General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov played a major role in organizing the negotiations which was participated initially by director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov.
“No one else participated in these negotiations apart from Yevkurov and FSB Director Bortnikov during the initial stage,” Lukashenko said.
The president went on saying: “At 11:00 he (Prigozhin) immediately picked up the phone. I mean Yevkurov summoned him, gave him the phone: ‘The Belarus president is on the line. Will you talk to him?' – ‘I will talk to Aleksandr Grigoryevich (Lukashenko)'. I heard them talking”.
Lukashenko said as he picked up the phone found Prigozhin was very “euphoric” and during the first round “we talked only in swear words for about 30 minutes”.
“I analyzed it later. The number of swear words was ten times higher than that of normal words. Certainly, he said he was sorry and started telling me things in swear words,” the Belarusian President said.
Lukashenko said he was wondering what to say to Prigozhin to start the negotiations.
“The guys had just come back from the frontline. They have seen thousands of their dead. The guys are extremely dissatisfied. Particularly commanding officers and as far as I could understand it, they strongly influenced Prigozhin himself,” he said.
Lukashenko said he, however, figured that out beforehand and remarked Prigozhin acted like a hero but he was under pressure and influence of those, who were in command of assault units and had seen those deaths.
“So, in this situation I talked to him when he went just for a second to Rostov and was half-crazy,” the Belarus leader recalled.
Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha