Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and financier of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, appears in a video released Wednesday in which he allegedly welcomes his fighters to Belarus, CNN reports.

The video recording was published on Provagner’s Telegram channels, then distributed by Prigozhin on his own Telegram channel.

This is Yevgeny Prigozhin’s first public appearance in more than three weeks after the beginning of the mercenary leader’s armed uprising against Russia’s military leadership. CNN says it is trying to verify the authenticity of the video.

Prigozhin’s one-day uprising

We will remind you that the most important crisis for Russia since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine occurred last month, on June 24. It was 24 hours before Yevgeny Prigozhin took control of Rostov, a strategic point for the Russians in the war in Ukraine, and sent Wagner’s troops on the march to Moscow to order them back.

Wagner’s uprising shook the Russian government against the background of the conflict in Ukraine. Within a few hours, the fighters of this group occupied the headquarters of the Russian army in Rostov-on-Don (southwest) and marched hundreds of kilometers towards Moscow. The uprising ended on the evening of June 24 with an agreement in which Prigozhin left for Belarus and his fighters could join him, join the regular Russian army, or return to civilian life.

Earlier on Wednesday, Britain’s intelligence chief told CNN that Prigozhin was alive and free, explaining that Russian President Vladimir Putin had no choice but to negotiate with the Wagner leader to end the short-lived rebellion.

Read also:

• Vladimir Putin puts the nail in the coffin of the Wagner group: “He simply does not exist” / What he says about the head of Prigozhin’s mercenaries
• Who is “Sedoy”, the veteran mercenary whom Putin proposed to command the Wagner Group?

____

• Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro