Prigozhin: Wagner Fighters Won't Go Back to Ukraine

Mercenary group launches joint drills with Belarus military
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 20, 2023 10:17 AM CDT
Prigozhin: Wagner Fighters Won't Go Back to Ukraine
This image from video released Wednesday, July 19, 2023, appears to show Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin for the first time since he led a short-lived rebellion in June.   (AP Photo)

Wagner Group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin is alive and well and making big plans for the mercenary group, according to a video released Wednesday on Wagner-linked Telegram video channels. In the video, his first public appearance since last month's failed mutiny against Russian military leadership, Prigozhin speaks at dusk to a crowd of men who appear to be Wagner fighters, welcoming them to Belarus, the Guardian reports. He tells them that Wagner will not return to Ukraine for now. "We did a lot for Russia," he says, per Politico. "What is happening at the front now is a disgrace. We want no part of it."

Prigozhin says the group's fighters will remain in Belarus "for some time" and will train the country's military before "going on a new path to Africa," where the group is active in several countries. "In this time, we will turn the Belarusian army into the second most powerful in the world and, if needed, we will take its place," he says. Prigozhin deputy Dmitry Utkin, whose callsign gave the group its name, also appears in the video. "This is not the end, this is only the beginning of the greatest work in the world, which will continue very soon," he says, switching from Russian to English to add: "And welcome to hell."

Wagner is believed to have around 2,000 fighters in Belarus. In a Telegram message, a commander said 10,000 more are on the way. Wagner fighters launched joint drills with the Belarusian military near the country's border with Poland on Thursday, prompting the Polish military to move troops to the border, the AP reports. "We must bear in mind that bringing a few thousand of Wagner's forces into Belarus poses a threat to our country, hence my decision to move some military units from Poland's west to Poland's east, " said Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak. (More Yevgeny Prigozhin stories.)

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