A video has appeared on a Telegram channel linked to the owner of the Wagner group, showing how Yevgeny Prigozhin greets the militants in Belarus, writes the BBC.
While meeting the fighters, he described what is currently happening on the Ukrainian front as a disgrace, and hinted that the Wagnerites could return to Ukraine at some point. The video could also be confirmation that the Wagnerites are now training regular army soldiers in Belarus.
PRIGOZHIN IS ALIVE – AND HE’S ANGRY
⚡️⚡️⚡️The first post-rebellion video of Evgenii Prigozhin – the founder of 🇷🇺 Wagner Group – speaking with his soldiers in Belarus 🇧🇾, has appeared.
Key points:
📌 “What is happening now at the front is a disgrace in which we do not need to… pic.twitter.com/iV5QyRfvFr
— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) July 19, 2023
Filmed in poor lighting, the video shows Prigozhin standing on a paved road in a field surrounded by trees and possibly tents and warehouses. Fact-checker BBC Verify is convinced that the video shows the western side of the Belarusian army camp. People in uniform can be seen in the background and cheers can be heard.
Despite the low visibility, Prigozhin is recognizable by silhouette,
and speakers of Russian familiar with Prigozhin’s rhetoric suggest that the voice and manner of speaking would also match that of a mercenary leader.
Prigozhin is heard saying that the militants in Ukraine have “fought hard” and criticizing the current course of the war and the leadership. He announced that a decision has been made to stay in Belarus for a certain period of time, and Wagner’s group will use this time to make the Belarusian army “the second-best army in the world”.
So Prigozhin is back, says BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg. At least the silhouette in the footage looks and behaves like Prigozhin. He still speaks his mind (frontline events are a disgrace).
However, he no longer makes personal insults against the Russian defense minister and army commander.
There is also no talk of marches for the restoration of justice.
What will happen next? It is understood from the video that some fighters will go to Africa. Others will stay to train the Belarusians. And the possibility that the Wagnerites could return to Ukraine still remains open.
Prigozhin also gives a name to a man who is not identified but indicates that he is the commander of Wagner’s group and the author of the name. Most likely, it is former Russian army officer and supposed Wagnerian military commander Dmitry Utkin.
An earlier analysis by BBC Verify showed
dozens of vehicles arriving at the new Wagner group camp in southern Belarus,
about 103 kilometers from the capital Minsk.
The agreement between the Wagnerites and the Kremlin, which ended the brief rebellion, calls for the mercenaries to join the Russian regular army or go to Belarus. In mid-July, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Kommersant newspaper that “Wagner’s group does not exist.” Putin stated that there is no law on paramilitary organizations in Russia, therefore the mercenary group does not exist legally.