Wagner’s Prigozhin apparently seen in public for the first time since the failed riot | CNN

CNN
—

A video appeared on Wednesday that appears to show Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since leading a armed rebellion in Russia last month.

“Welcome guys! I am happy to greet you all. Welcome to Belarusian land! We fought with dignity! We have done a lot for Russia,” says a man who looks and sounds like Prigozhin in the video, which was posted on pro-Wagner Telegram channels on Wednesday and later shared on Prigozhin’s account.

The Prigozhin rebellion posed one of the biggest challenges to the long rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He played a leading role in the invasion of Ukraine and, since the uprising, his whereabouts have been unclear.

In the video, a fighter apparently addresses the Wagner leader as “Yevgeny Viktorovich,” Prigozhin’s first name and patronymic. The video appears raw, and metadata in the file suggests it could have been created at dusk on Tuesday, July 18, or at dawn on Wednesday, July 19.

The video is grainy and shot in low light, so CNN can’t say definitively that the speaker is Prigozhin or when it was filmed. CNN is working to geolocate the images.

In the video, the Wagner leader criticized the Russian Defense Ministry’s planning and execution of military operations in Ukraine and suggested that its soldiers would not fight in Ukraine for now.

“What is happening now at the front is an embarrassment in which we need not participate. We have to wait for the moment when we can fully prove ourselves,” Prigozhin said. “Therefore, the decision was made to station us here in Belarus for some time. I am sure that during this time we will make the Belarusian army the second largest in the world. And if necessary, we will defend them if it comes to that.”

“I want to ask everyone to really pay attention to the fact that the Belarusians welcomed us not only as heroes, but also as brothers,” he added.

The Wagner founder goes on to suggest that his stay in Belarus could be temporary and calls on his fighters to prepare to travel elsewhere.

“We should prepare, improve ourselves and go on a new trip to Africa,” he said. “Maybe we’ll go back (to Ukraine) when we’re sure we won’t be asked to be ashamed of ourselves and our experience.”

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have brokered the deal between Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin that ended the insurrection. Lukashenko has since invited Wagner’s forces to Belarus to help train his country’s army.

Wagner’s fighters arrived in Belarus on Tuesday, a CNN analysis of satellite images and social media videos found. The first convoy of Wagner’s forces arrived at a disused military base in Belarus, with at least two more convoys moving there.

Meanwhile, the fate of Wagner’s boss Prigozhin continued to be the subject of speculation.

After the riot ended, Lukashenko claimed that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus. But for weeks, no one could confirm that. Then, earlier this month, Lukashenko backtracked, telling CNN that Prigozhin was in St. Petersburg and that he may be traveling “to Moscow or somewhere else.”

The Mi6 chief said on Wednesday that Prighozin was alive and at large.

He also claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had no choice but to cut a deal with the Wagner leader to end the short-lived rebellion, saying he “made a deal to save his skin.”