The leader of Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prighozin, who led an attempted coup in Russia on the weekend, is heading to Belarus following an agreement, President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday.
"I can see Prigozhin is already flying on the plane. Yes, indeed, today he is in Belarus," Lukashenko said in a meeting with Belarusian officers, according to state media.
It was not clear if the Wagner leader had already arrived in Belarus or was still in the air.
There was widespread speculation over his whereabouts.
Lukashenko had mediated an end to the stand-off between Moscow and mercenary leader Prigozhin, who marched his private army toward the Russian capital in a dispute over supplies and how Kremlin chiefs were overseeing the war in Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin, Prigozhin was set to find refuge in Belarus as part of a deal and criminal charges against him have been dropped.
Lukashenko admitted that all parties involved - himself included - had initially underestimated the danger of the situation escalating.
President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the finances of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's catering firm would be investigated after his mutiny, saying Wagner and its founder had received almost $2 billion from Russia in the past year.
Putin initially vowed to crush the mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolutions of 1917 and then a civil war, but hours later a deal was clinched to allow Prigozhin and some of his fighters to go to 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 said it had received 86 billion roubles ($1 billion) from the defense ministry between May 2022 and May 2023.
In addition, Prigozhin's Concord catering company made 80 billion roubles from state contracts to supply food to the Russian army, Putin said.
"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."
Prigozhin, whom Putin did not mention by name, could not be reached for immediate comment on Putin's remarks.
He said earlier this year that he had always financed Wagner but had looked for additional financing after the war began in Ukraine.
He said on Monday that he had not been trying to overthrow the Russian state and that he remained a patriot who was trying to settle scores with the defense ministry.
