A photograph of Prigogine could have been used to identify his whereabouts

A newly surfaced photo of Yevgeny Prigogine may shed some light on the status of the Wagner Group leader after the failed uprising late last month.

According to the latest assessment of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian bloggers shared a picture on social media of Prigozhin sitting on a bed inside a makeshift tent. In the photo shared on Twitter Igor SushkoPrigozhin, the executive director of the “Change Network” research group, is shown to the cameraman without pants and without waves.

The photo could be a sign that Prigozhin left or took refuge in a Belarusian military camp days after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his boss Wagner was in Russia. Prigozhin led his own mercenaries in a 24-hour uprising against the Russian army on June 24, but called off his march to Moscow after making peace with Lukashenko.

Prigozhin’s status in Wagner’s organization and his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin have remained unclear since late June, but a photo was shared online on the same day by the Belarusian Ministry of Defense of Wagner’s instructors training Belarusian troops at a military camp. . According to an internal Belarusian source, the mercenary instructors came from the troops Wagner had deployed in Africa.

ISW has previously cited reports that large field camps were set up across Belarus to train Wagner, and Lukashenko said security guarantees for Prigozhin’s mercenaries were part of negotiations to end the insurgency. While questions remain over the future of the Wagner group, reports of its deployment in Belarus have worried some NATO leaders who fear the new deployment of NATO troops could pose a threat to neighboring countries.

“They can and will appear in Belarus at any time,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said. “No one knows when they will turn against us.”

The Pentagon said on Friday that Wagner Prigogine’s troops are no longer playing a significant role in the war in Ukraine, once the engine of the Russian invasion. Putin told the Russian publication about this Merchant On Thursday, Prigozhin withdrew his offer to keep his mercenaries in Ukraine, and the Russian president told the newspaper that a private military company was “no”.

Newsweek The Russian Defense Ministry was contacted by email on Friday for comment.