TALLINN – Yevgeny Prigozhin smiled as a crowd of adoring fanatics surrounded his black SUV on June 24 in Russia’s southern town of Rostov-on-Don and cheered him on.
“You rock!” fanatics shouted whilst taking selfies with the chief of the Wagner mercenary group, who was once sitting in the car after dusk. “You’re a lion! Hang in there!”
Prigozhin and his masked, camouflage-clad warring parties were leaving the town after a daylong mutiny against the country’s military leadership. President Vladimir Putin decried it as “treason” and vowed punishment, however then minimize a deal to not prosecute Prigozhin. Beyond that, his destiny appeared unsure.
Two months later, on Aug. 23, Prigozhin’s industry jet plummeted from the sky and crashed in a box midway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Everyone aboard was once killed, possibly together with Prigozhin and a few of his most sensible lieutenants.
The two scenes, which spread out simply two months aside, supply bookends to the mystery-shrouded final days of the outspoken, brutal mercenary chief who first of all looked as if it would have escaped any retribution for the rebellion that posed the greatest challenge to Putin’s authority in his 23-year rule.
Suspicions immediately arose that the Kremlin was once in the back of the crash and that it was once vengeance. The Kremlin denied it.
In on-camera remarks eulogizing Prigozhin, the Russian president sought to turn that there was once no dangerous blood between them. He described the head of Wagner as “a talented man” whom he had identified for a very long time and who made “serious mistakes” however was once nonetheless it appears doing industry with the executive.
The closing weeks of Prigozhin’s lifestyles were overshadowed by questions about what the Kremlin truly had in store for him. Had he already dodged a bullet? Or was once his comeuppance simply additional down the highway?
Shortly earlier than pictures emerged of Prigozhin riding off into the night time in Rostov-on-Don, the Kremlin introduced a deal to finish the mutiny. Prigozhin would “retreat to Belarus,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated, with out elaborating on whether or not that supposed an everlasting exile.
Prigozhin himself went silent, which was once abnormal for a person who used to free up more than one written and spoken statements on a daily basis. Responding to an e mail from The Associated Press on June 25, the day after the mutiny, Prigozhin’s press provider stated simplest that he “says hi to everyone” and would reply to all questions as soon as he will get “proper connection.”
An elaborate 11-minute statement from Prigozhin appeared the next day, however it contained not anything about the place he was once or what was once subsequent for him and his forces. Instead, he defended himself and the mutiny in his same old defiant and bullish means.
He stated his march on Moscow began as a result of an injustice — an alleged assault on his warring parties in Ukraine by the Russian army. He taunted the army, calling Wagner’s march a “master class” in how executive infantrymen will have to have performed the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He identified safety breaches that allowed Wagner to advance 780 kilometers (500 miles) with out resistance and to dam all army devices on its approach.
The following morning, on June 27, Russian government introduced they were dropping the criminal investigation into the revolt, with no charges for the Wagner chief nor another contributors — even supposing about a dozen Russian troops were killed in clashes and several other army plane were shot down.
Later in the day, Putin hinted that there may well be a brand new probe — this time into Prigozhin’s budget. The Russian chief advised an army collecting that the state paid Wagner nearly $1 billion in only one 12 months, whilst Prigozhin’s different corporate earned about the similar from executive contracts. Putin questioned aloud whether or not any of it was once stolen and promised to “figure it out.”
On the day the fees were dropped, Prigozhin’s plane was spotted in Belarus, and Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who helped dealer the deal to finish the mutiny, stated the Wagner leader had arrived. Belarusian activists soon reported that a camp was being erected there for warring parties who determined to observe him.
In Russia, Prigozhin’s main industry asset — a media corporate referred to as Patriot — close down, and many of the news outlets it owned were blocked by authorities. Prigozhin’s media operations integrated the notorious “troll factory” that resulted in his indictment in the U.S. for meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Wagner additionally introduced a halt to recruitment of recent mercenaries “due to the move to Belarus.”
On July 6, on the other hand, Lukashenko told reporters that Prigozhin was in St. Petersburg — or “maybe he went to Moscow, or maybe somewhere else, but he is not in Belarus.” The remarks got here amid media experiences that money and gear seized right through police searches of Prigozhin’s belongings were returned to him.
“What will happen to him next? Well, anything can happen in a lifetime. But if you think that Putin is so malicious and vindictive that he will be offed somewhere tomorrow. … No, this will not happen,” Lukashenko confident.
As it became out, Putin met with Prigozhin a number of days after the rebel.
Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, advised journalists on July 10 that the meeting took place in the Kremlin and involved more than 30 Wagner commanders in addition to Prigozhin. The revelation got here after Peskov time and again stated the Kremlin knew not anything about Prigozhin’s whereabouts — together with on the day of the assembly with Putin, June 29.
Putin’s spokesperson wouldn’t be offering any main points about the assembly, announcing simplest that the commanders pledged their loyalty to the Russian president.
Putin later echoed that concept, announcing in a July 13 interview that “many were nodding” when he presented to allow them to proceed serving underneath one among the Wagner commanders. But a defiant Prigozhin spoke for them and stated they didn’t like the proposal, in step with the Russian president.
Comments from the Wagner leader himself turned into uncommon. Nothing extra was once posted by his spokespeople past the 11-minute audio message issued two days after the mutiny.
Words or visuals of Prigozhin as a substitute gave the impression in one among a number of Telegram channels believed to be connected to Wagner. The relative quiet raised questions over whether or not conserving a low public profile was once a part of his take care of the Kremlin.
One such video on July 19 reportedly came from Belarus. Blurry pictures confirmed a silhouette of a person taking a look like Prigozhin in opposition to the sky at nightfall, and his unique gravelly voice was once heard addressing rows of fellows in fatigues.
“Welcome guys! I am happy to greet you all. Welcome to Belarusian land!” he stated.
Prigozhin repeated his complaint of the habits of the preventing in Ukraine. “What is going on the frontline today is a shame in which we shouldn’t take part,” he stated, including that Wagner forces may just go back to Ukraine in the long run.
In the period in-between, Prigozhin stated, Wagner would educate in Belarus after which prompt on a brand new adventure to Africa, where his mercenaries have been active in several countries.
Another video, posted on Aug. 21 in a special Telegram channel, showed a close-up of Prigozhin toting a rifle while standing on a dusty plain. Prigozhin didn’t say the place the video was once recorded, however he referenced the temperature being 50 levels Celsius (122 levels Fahrenheit).
“Just the approach we adore it,” he boasted. He stated Wagner was once “making Russia even greater on all continents and Africa even more free.”
Two days later came the plane crash — exactly two months after Priogzhin first announced his revolt.
Although the Kremlin rejected allegations that it was behind the crash, the fact of the ones two months most likely didn’t take a seat neatly with Putin, political analyst Abbas Gallyamov stated.
The mutiny “showcased Putin’s weakness to everyone,” said Gallyamov, who once worked as a Kremlin speechwriter. After that, Prigozhin “was feeling normal.” He was once operating on tasks in Belarus and in Africa, and the case in opposition to him was once closed.
That fact “totally disappointed Putin as it was once an open invitation for possible mutineers,” Gallyamov stated.