Saturday night, following a day in which the Russian paramilitary Wagner group attempted a military uprising in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov announced that the head of the Wagner group and main organizer of the rebellion Yevgeny Prigozhin « will go to Belarus.’ Shortly before, Prigozhin had agreed to give up the revolt, in which his mercenary troops had begun a long advance towards Moscow, the capital, engaging in battles on the ground with the regular Russian army. Up until the day before, the Wagner group had fought alongside the Russian army in the invasion of the Ukraine.
The agreement with Prigozhin had been brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and Peskov’s words – report to the state agency Tass – have so far been Russia’s only official statement since the end of the uprising. Peskov did not clarify what Prigozhin is going to do in Belarus or how long he will stay there, but his announcement and the general tone he used prompted most analysts and the best-informed international journalists to speculate that it is a kind of exile, part of a deal under which the Russian government will drop all charges against Prigozhin and members of the Wagner group. Peskov guaranteed that Wagner’s soldiers who participated in the insurrection will not be tried, by virtue of their commitment on the Ukrainian front and to “avoid bloodshed”.
Peskov actually described Prigozhin’s transfer as a concession: “If you’re wondering what exactly is the guarantee that Prigozhin will be able to leave for Belarus, [posso dirvi che] it is the word of the Russian president».
Peskov’s reassurances to the Russian population about Prigozhin’s fate can be explained by the fact that the head of the Wagner group has so far enjoyed an excellent reputation in Russia, above all thanks to Russian propaganda which for months had presented him and his soldiers as patriots , encouraging people to enlist in the militia that played a vital role in Russia’s limited successes in the war in Ukraine.