THE mystery over the whereabouts of missing Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin deepens as the Pentagon claims he is using body doubles to disguise his movements.
The mercenary boss continues to confound and defy the Kremlin in the wake of his botched rebellion as Belarus announces he has ignored his exile terms and returned to Russia.
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On Thursday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko startlingly announced that the disgraced Wagner boss was “not in Belarus”.
Despite brokering the deal that offered Prigozhin and his mercenary army sanctuary in his country post-mutiny, it turned out the puppet leader had lost his jailbird.
“He is absolutely free,” he declared.
First he suggested he was had returned to his home city of St. Petersburg, before vaguely speculating “perhaps he flew to Moscow“.
As the plot thickens to find Putin’s enemy number one, a US intelligence source surprisingly revealed that Prigozhin was using body doubles to disguise his movements.
They told The New York Times that the oligarch had mostly been spending his time in Russia instead of Belarus, but they couldn’t tell how much time owing to the number of fake Prigozhin’s running around.
In response to questions concerning Prigozhin’s whereabouts – the Kremlin has feigned disinterest, stating they neither have the “ability” or “desire” to follow his movements.
The latest analysis from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated that Prigozhin’s ability to be the master of his own fate suggests two things.
That he is either “protected by some security guarantees and/or that the Kremlin continues to prioritize undermining his reputation in Russia over targeting Prigozhin physically or legally.”
Either way, ISW stated: “Wagner is not fulfilling its end of the deal”.
If the Wagner chief is in Russia it raises further questions on how the man responsible for staging the biggest threat to Putin’s iron-fist rule in two decades is allowed to walk free.
Prigozhin’s decision to blatantly ignore his exile deal is another direct provocation against a paranoid Putin who seems to be engaged in a Kremlin purge.
Sergey Surovikin – aka “General Armageddon” – vanished two weeks ago after speculation he had advance knowledge of the Wagner chief’s plans.
Meanwhile, Russian security forces ransacked Prigozhin’s swanky mansion in St. Petersburg.
The extraordinary pictures released on Wednesday showed a house of opulence and horrors – gold bars, an arsenal of weapons and even a framed photo of severed heads.
The FSB raid also seized his bizarre cupboard full of wigs, beards and and pictures of him in various get ups – revealing a man experienced in disguise.
A business jet linked to Prigozhin left St Petersburg for Moscow on Wednesday and was heading for southern Russia on Thursday, according to flight tracking data.
But it was not clear if the mercenary chief was on board – if he was, it would be breaking the exile terms set by Putin.
Prigozhin allegedly left after retrieving his things from St Petersburg last week, though these claims haven’t been verified.
Putin’s former lap dog has not been seen since he was shipped off to Belarus to begin his exile following his aborted “coup” on June 23 waged against Russia’s military leaders.
The steaming rebellion was blown out after Prigozhin struck a bitter, but unclear deal with Putin putting an end to an astonishing 36-hours that saw Wagner forces reach within 125 miles of the capital.
Since then, he was widely assumed to have been hunkered down in Belarus and avoiding trouble.
His two planes had been tracked arriving in the neighbouring state and Lukashenko himself confirmed he had arrived.
Whether it was true or not, Prigozhin – for once – stayed remarkably silent and hidden form sight.
He broke his week-long silence on Monday, when he came back fighting to thank his supporters and defend his mutinous actions.
In his first statement since being shipped to Belarus, Prigozhin defended his violent mutiny as a “march to justice”.
He boldly claimed that his mission was to “fight the traitors and mobilise society” and called on the Russian public to support his ruthless mercenary army.
He brazenly added: “In the near future, I am sure that you will see our next victories at the front.”
However, part of Prigozhin’s deal with Putin forced Wagner recruits to chose between following him to Belarus, signing contacts with the Russian defence ministry or going home to their families.
While Wagner posters across Russia were being torn down, and their HQ gutted – the paid killer group were still actively seeking recruits using advertisements on Telegram this week.
The recruitment push undermines the paid-killer group’s truce with the Kremlin.
Belarus has offered Wagner the use of a Belarusian “abandoned” military base, and satellite images showed temporary structures being quickly built.
However on Thursday, Lukashenko said that Wager forces remained in their “permanent camps” in eastern Ukraine that they retreated to after the failed rebellion.
“Whether they will come here, and if so, how many of them will come, we will decide in the future,” the autocrat said.
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Iona Cleave
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