THE finances of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s catering firm are set to be investigated, Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday as the Wagner group leader arrived in Belarus.
Speaking to soldiers from the Russian army at a meeting in the Kremlin, Putin said he had always respected Wagner’s fighters, but that the fact was the group had been “fully financed” from the state budget.
He alleged it had received 86 billion roubles ($1 billion) from the defence ministry between May 2022 and May 2023.
Prigozhin’s Concord catering company made a further 80 billion roubles from state contracts to supply food to the Russian army, Putin added, stating that: “I do hope that, as part of this work, no one stole anything, or, let’s say, stole less, but we will, of course, investigate all of this.”
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko confirmed on Tuesday that Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus following a short-lived armed mutiny in Russia.
Prigozhin’s exile had previously been announced by the Kremlin, with Lukashenko adding that the group would be welcome to stay in the country “for some time.”
