Elusive Wagner Leader Prigozhin Spotted in Public After Mutiny Attempt

(AmericanProsperity.com) – A video published on July 19 on Telegram channels appears to show Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin greeting his soldiers in Belarus. The founder of the Russian private military group is seen welcoming his fighters and claiming that all of them fought “with dignity” and did “a lot for Russia.”

If real, the footage would represent the first time Prigozhin has been seen in public after the mutiny he led against the Kremlin back in June. The Wagner chief eventually shared the video on his personal Telegram account but provided no comments about it.

According to a CNN report, experts consulted by the network said they geolocated the video to a disused military facility in the city of Asipovichy. This Belarusian city is located 49 miles southeast of the capital Minsk, where Prigozhin has been living in exile after his failed rebellion against the Russian government.

In the video, Prigozhin criticized Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu because of the poor performance of Russian military operations in Ukraine. The Wagner leader even suggested that he wouldn’t take part in the invasion and that he wouldn’t send more of his soldiers to Ukraine. He also claimed that everything that is currently taking place at the front “is a total disgrace” in which Wagner doesn’t “need to participate.”

The experts also told CNN that the video seems to be unedited, pointing out that the metadata on the file suggests it was filmed on July 18 at dusk. They also explained that the position of the sun in the video is a “crucial indicator” that provides “important” details. However, CNN pointed out is difficult to say for sure that the person filmed in the video is the Wagner leader. The network said in its report that the video was filmed in low light and the video is too grainy to properly determine that the person speaking was Prigozhin.

Following the publication of this video, a Belarusian activist monitoring group named Hajun Project said the person talking could be the Wagner leader. The group said in a statement that Prigozhin’s jet landed in the Belarusian city of Machulishchy on the morning of July 18 and left on July 19.