Mercenary warlord Prigozhin breaks silence following Belarus exile in message to Russian people: report
Yevgeny Prigozhin has allegedly returned to Russia since his exile started
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian mercenary warlord-turned-rebel Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to call on the Russian public to join the Wagner Group as his troops continue to recruit troops for the war in Ukraine, which would break the terms of his exile and truce with the Kremlin.
"Today, more than ever, we need your support," Prigozhin allegedly said in audio posted by a pro-Wagner Telegram channel. "Thank you for that."
"I want you to understand that our ‘March of Justice’ was aimed at fighting traitors and mobilizing our society, and I think we have achieved a lot of it," he added, saying that "in the near future, I am sure that you will see our next victories at the front. Thank you guys!"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital was not able to authenticate the audio.
Prigozhin initiated what observers called the most significant challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime in his 23 years in power.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After marching his 25,000-strong mercenary forces to within 125 miles of Moscow, Prigozhin abruptly ended the operation and ordered his troops to return home before heading into exile in Belarus.
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the headquarters of the Southern Military District amid the group's pullout from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. (REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
In the aftermath, reports claimed that Prigozhin had anticipated support from several military officers and regiments but that no support materialized. A military purge reportedly followed, but Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the Department of Defense did not see anything that should raise an alarm.
"Right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. As it relates to Belarus, I don’t have any updates to provide on that front," he said.
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Russian outlet Fontanka reported that Prigozhin had returned to Russia to reclaim weapons authorities had confiscated during searches on Prigozhin's residences following the end of the rebellion. He even obtained 10 billion rubles and a glock presented to him by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu - the very man he sought to oust with his mutiny.
Prigozhin also shuttered his media holdings, closing down media group The Patriot and its outlets People's News and Economics Today, according to The Moscow Times.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov, right, attend an expanded meeting of the Russian Defence Ministry Board at the National Defence Control Centre in Moscow on Dec. 21, 2022. (MIKHAIL KIREYEV/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
The Financial Times reported that Wagner posted an ad on Telegram asking for new recruits to train in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. Those wishing to join were asked to delete all social media accounts due to new complications in the recruiting process.
"Why do you believe the news?" a recruiter said when questioned on how the group could continue recruiting following the failed insurrection. "If something was not right, we would not be having this conversation right now."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He also stressed that a recruit was signing with Wagner and not the Russian defense ministry, making clear "We have nothing to do with them."
Images captured by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 2 satellites last week appeared to show Wagner building a new military base near the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The images, if confirmed, would indicate a rapid build-up for Wagner.
Servicemen of the Wagner Group military company sit in their military vehicles as they prepare to leave an area at the HQ of the Southern Military District in a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Saturday, June 24, 2023. Yevgeny Prigozhin's troops who joined him in the uprising will not face prosecution and those who did not will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry. After the deal was reached Saturday, Prigozhin ordered his troops to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian troops. (AP Photo)
The images showed rows of long structures in the nearby village of Tsel, in a field that was empty as recently as June 24 – well over a week before Wagner’s short-lived mutiny.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Defense Department told Fox News Digital it is monitoring the situation but declined to "get into intelligence matters regarding Wagner's disposition."
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Putin has said Wagner fighters were free either to move to Belarus, join the Russian military or go home, following the mutiny,
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Reuters contributed to this report.