Kremlin not following Prigozhin after Lukashenko says Wagner boss is in Russia

Moscow, July 6 (EFE).- The Kremlin Thursday asserted that it was not following the movements of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said the mutineer head of the private Russian paramilitary was no longer in his country.

Lukashenko brokered a deal last month between Prigozhin and the Kremlin and offered him asylum after the private army boss launched an armed rebellion in revolt against the Russian military leadership.

“No, we don’t follow his moves, we don’t have the time or the inclination to do that,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told reporters.

Earlier, Belarusian President ]Lukashenko said Prigozhin had since returned to Russia.

Speaking to foreign and Belarusian media, Lukashenko said the Wagner leader was in Russia and “may” be in St Petersburg or Moscow but not on “the territory of Belarus.”

Peskov declined to answer if Prigozhin violated the terms of the pact with the Kremlin, insisting that he could not add anything more to what was already said.

A week ago, the Belarusian leader assured that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus after the deal which ended the armed rebellion by Russian mercenaries on June 24.

The Russian news outlet Fontanka reported Wednesday that Wagner’s boss was in St. Petersburg on July 4, where he was given a pistol and other weapons seized during a police search. EFE

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