The Wagner group today publishes on its Telegram channel a photo showing its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, sitting in a field tent on a tubular metal bed - in his underpants and T-shirt - waving to the camera .
It is unclear where or when the photo was taken, but according to the Russian paramilitary group the image, "by the Belarusian defense ministry", was taken at the Wagner camp in Belarus .
The channel that published it had initially written "in the metadata of the original photo, the capture date is June 12, 7.24", but then changed the post shortly after writing "July 12". However, the original file is not available on the net, so it is not possible to verify the metadata independently .
One detail suggests that he could also be a double: Prigozhin in fact has the ring finger of his left hand mutilated and that hand in the photo is hidden by a backpack .
The future of the group of mercenaries remains uncertain. Putin has even questioned, from a legal point of view, the very existence of the division which for years has been his unofficial armed wing not only in Ukraine, but also in Libya, Syria and the Central African Republic. "Wagner does not exist, we do not have a law for private military organizations" , said the tsar, while later the Kremlin announced that it will consider the possibility of guaranteeing a legal status to the company, with the aim of bring the mercenaries directly under Putin's control.
The Russian president also reported an attempt to oust Prigozhin from leading the mercenaries. By proposing a new leader whose nom de guerre is "Sedoy", i.e. "grey hair" . According to him "the person who was their real commander in the last 16 months" (according to some media it would be the former colonel Andrei Troshev).
However, the United States maintains that, after its attempt to overthrow the leadership of the Russian armed forces, Wagner's mercenaries are no longer participating "to a significant extent" in armed clashes in Ukraine .
(Unioneonline/L)
