US Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner said mercenary group Wagner’s founder and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most famous caterer is lodged in “one of the only hotels” in Belarus capital Minsk “that does not have any windows”, news outlet NBC said in a report.
Prigozhin’s whereabouts remain unknown since Saturday - the day he decided to mount a coup against the Russian Federation - after he left Rostov-on-Don after he ordered his men to stand down and hand over the running of the Southern Military District to the Russian Army.
The mercenary-for-hire group’s founder took over the Southern Military District headquarters on Saturday and demanded that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian chief of army staff Valery Gerasimov be flown to him so that he can hold them accountable for recent setbacks in the hand of the Ukrainian army in the ongoing 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war.
The short-lived rebellion saw Prigozhin, a former convict and caterer at the Kremlin, demand the ouster of the Russian defence ministry and army top brass and at the same time ask people in adjoining cities to stand up to Russian President Putin’s corruption.
However, in a sudden turn of events, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal with Prigozhin after which the mercenary group founder stood down.
What were the exact terms of the Belarus-brokered deal still remains unclear. However, news agencies claim that Prigozhin moved to Belarus and the Kremlin has assured that criminal charges against Wagner and its fighters will be dropped.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed that a Russian-registered business jet linked to Prigozhin flew to Belarus from Russia earlier on Tuesday. Flightradar24 claims that a Embraer Legacy 600 jet linked to Prigozhin was used to travel to Belarus. The jet’s details were found in US sanctions documents.
Prigozhin, too, has scaled back on his demands and said he did not attempt to “overthrow the government" and he halted his advance towards Moscow to avoid further bloodshed.
He said he marched to raise his voice against ‘injustice’ and prevent the destruction of Wagner. Prigozhin has been criticising the Russian administration for its setbacks in Ukraine since the beginning of 2023.
Putin chose to thank Russia’s military and law enforcement for “stopping a civil war" from breaking out and said some members of the military, the security forces and the Russian National Guard helped prevent Russia from descending into chaos.