Belarus Military Base Presumed to Host
Putin Appoints New Leader of Wagner Group
A photo of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary company Wagner Group who stepped down after staging a military rebellion, sitting on a field bed wearing only underwear has been released. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has directly appointed a figure to lead the Wagner Group in place of Prigozhin.
The image of Prigozhin in the tent photo released during the tour by Belarusian military authorities [Photo source=Telegram capture]
Shortly after the Belarus Ministry of Defense announced that some Wagner Group personnel were engaged in military training duties in Belarus, this photo was released on the 15th (local time), leading foreign media to speculate that Prigozhin appears to be staying at a Belarusian military base camp.
The timing of the photo's release was the day after President Putin stated on the 14th that "the Wagner Group no longer exists under Russian law."
The leaked photo of a disheveled Prigozhin was shared via Telegram. Unlike previous reference photos, he appears much thinner.
The British daily The Independent reported, "Belarusian media say Wagner Group instructors are training their own soldiers at the Osipovichi military base," adding, "The appearance of the hastily erected tents looks quite similar to the tent where Prigozhin is staying."
A monitoring group called Belarusian Gayun explained, "The photo of Prigozhin appears to have been taken on the 12th," and "It closely resembles other photos taken at the camp."
The tent floor mat is also visible, which seems to be the same as the one shown when Belarusian authorities revealed the tents erected inside the Osipovichi base last week, although it is now abandoned.
The Belarus Ministry of Defense released training footage showing Wagner Group mercenaries participating as instructors.
Previously, on the 23rd of last month, the Wagner Group launched an armed rebellion but halted their advance and withdrew about 200 km from Moscow the following day. The whereabouts of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was missing immediately after the withdrawal, became known when he entered Belarus on June 27 and reportedly met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin two days later along with about 30 of his subordinate officers.
On the 6th, the late Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that Prigozhin was staying in Russian regions such as Saint Petersburg and Moscow. At that time, President Lukashenko also said that Wagner Group mercenaries had not entered Belarus but were staying at their own camp.
According to the Belarus Ministry of Defense, it appears that only recently some Wagner Group mercenaries left the camp and entered Belarusian territory. Belarus has expressed a welcoming stance toward Wagner Group mercenaries staying in the country and assisting with military training since the end of the rebellion.
On December 9, 2016 (local time), Andrey Troshev, senior commander of the Wagner Group, attending a reception held at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, the capital of Russia. / Photo by Yonhap News
Meanwhile, Russian media reported that at a meeting chaired by President Putin on the 29th of last month, which gathered 35 senior Wagner Group officials including Prigozhin, a commander with the callsign "Sedoy" was mentioned as the new leader. In this regard, the U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) analyzed in a report that President Putin wants to maintain the Wagner Group's current combat strength independently of Prigozhin.
"Sedoy," meaning "gray-haired," refers to Andrey Troshev, a founding member and current executive of the Wagner Group. Troshev, the current executive director of Wagner Group, is a former Russian army colonel and a veteran commander with combat experience in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Syria. He was also spotted standing next to President Putin at an event held at the Moscow Kremlin in 2016.
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