(TotalConservative.com) – Wagner Group head Yevgeny Prigozhin will not face prosecution for his short-lived armed rebellion last weekend in which he sought to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other military officials, the Associated Press reported.
Prigozhin has not been seen since he arrived in the southern Russian city of Rostov last Saturday, however, he released a defiant audio statement on Monday.
Tuesday morning, a private jet with Prigozhin aboard flew from Rostov to an airbase near Minsk in Belarus.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed on Tuesday that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus and said that the Wagner chief and some of his fighters would be permitted to remain there “for some time,” but at their “own expense.”
Moscow said plans were underway for the 25,000 Wagner troops who were fighting in Ukraine to turn over their heavy weapons to Russian forces.
Russian officials said on Tuesday that the criminal investigation into the uprising has been closed and they do not plan to charge Prigozhin or his followers with armed rebellion.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated that Prigozhin could suffer financially for the failed uprising, telling military officials that the Kremlin would be looking closely at the contract the Russian military made with Progozhin’s Concord Group.
On Saturday, police searched Prigozhin’s office in St. Petersburg where they found 4 billion rubles in trucks parked outside. Prigozhin said that the money was for paying the families of his fighters.
Less than 24 hours after it began, the Wagner Group revolt fizzled out last Saturday not long after President Putin spoke on national TV where he branded the leaders “traitors.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to disclose the details of the deal Moscow made with Prigozhin, only saying that President Putin gave “certain guarantees” to avoid a “worst-case scenario.”
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