Putin Warned: Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Mercenaries Are 'Itching to Go on Tour to Major European Capital' After Moscow Coup
July 24 2023, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
Vladimir Putin was reportedly warned that Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner mercenaries want to “tour” a major European capital, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In the latest development to come after Prigozhin's Wagner Private Military Company fled to Belarus following its botched coup against Moscow last month, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly warned Putin that the mercenaries want to visit Warsaw, Poland.
Also startling are reports that the Wagner troops are “itching” to visit Rzeszow – a key military hub in Poland.
"We began to be bothered by the PMC Wagner, asking to go to the West,” Lukashenko reportedly warned Putin on Sunday, according to Daily Star.
“I said, why do you want to go to the West there?” Lukashenko continued. “And quietly, we're in control of what is happening.”
"Of course, I keep them in the center of Belarus as agreed,” the Belarusian leader added. “I wouldn't want to redeploy them there, because they're in a bad mood."
Javed Ali, a professor specializing in international policy, told Newsweek on Sunday that Lukashenko’s public warning to Putin was likely an “empty threat” aimed at NATO because the West could easily “detect in advance any possible incursions."
"In the aftermath of the failed Wagner Group mutiny in Russia several weeks ago and the repositioning of Wagner Group elements in Belarus, an attack on Poland or any surrounding NATO country would be incredibly provocative and trigger Article 5 mutual defense obligations that would likely do grave damage to Wagner Group fighters if they made such an attempt," Ali explained this weekend.
“[Lukashenko's comment] falls in line with other bombastic rhetoric from President Putin during the Ukraine conflict about other attacks and threats that never materialized,” the professor added.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Prigozhin and his Wagner PMC fled to Belarus last month after they launched a rebellion against Putin in Moscow.
Although Putin’s chef-turned-mercenary chief went missing shortly after the botched coup, he appeared in Belarus for the first time in a video published last week.
“You have done a lot for Russia,” Prigozhin said in the video posted to Telegram on Wednesday. “What is happening at the front now is a disgrace in which we do not need to take part. We must wait for the moment when we can show our worth to the maximum.”
“That’s why it was decided that we will be here in Belarus for some time,” he added.
Prigozhin also suggested Wagner will “maybe return” to the conflict in Ukraine after setting off for a “new path to Africa.”
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“We’re gathering our strength, and for a new path to Africa,” he said on Wednesday.
“And maybe we’ll return to Ukraine when we can be sure we won’t be forced to bring shame to ourselves and our experience.”
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