Wagner chief who defied Putin is currently in Russia, according to Belarus president

The mutinous head of Russia's Wagner group is no longer in Belarus and it is not clear if his fighters will move there, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday, raising questions about the deal that ended last month's revolt.

Lukashenko said on June 27 that Yevgeny Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus as part of the deal that defused the crisis, which had seen the Wagner fighters briefly capture the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and then march toward Moscow.

But Lukashenko, who brokered the deal, said on Thursday that Prigozhin was now in St. Petersburg, Russia's second city, or may have moved on to Moscow.

"He is not on the territory of Belarus," Lukashenko told a news conference in Minsk.

Lukashenko also said the question of Wagner units relocating to Belarus had not been resolved, and would depend on decisions by Russia and by Wagner.

"Whether they will be in Belarus or not, in what quantity, we will figure it out in the near future," he said.

His comments highlighted the huge uncertainties surrounding the terms and implementation of the deal that ended the mutiny, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has said could have plunged the country into civil war.

Prigozhin's men have spearheaded much of the fighting in Ukraine, but he has also accused Russia's top brass of corruption and incompetence. Prigozhin cast the June 24 "march of justice" on Moscow as a protest against the military leadership.

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Russian state TV on Wednesday launched a fierce attack on Prigozhin and said an investigation into what had happened was still being vigorously pursued.

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 Prigozhin is able to return to Russia with impunity, it would raise new questions about Putin's authority in the wake of the brief mutiny that marked the gravest challenge to his 23 years in power.

Putin told Asian leaders this week that the episode had shown that Russian society is more united than ever. The Kremlin has declined to engage in discussion of Prigozhin's whereabouts.

"No, we do not follow his movements. We have neither the ability nor the desire to do so," Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in answer to a reporter's question on Thursday.