Russian authorities are still investigating Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin over his failed rebellion last month despite the Kremlin’s promise to drop criminal charges against him, according to state television. mentioned late on Wednesday.
“No one planned to close this case,” journalist Eduard Petrov said on a state-run political talk show, referring to Prigozhin as a “traitor.”
Petrov did not provide evidence to support his allegations, which could not be immediately verified. On June 27, the FSB said it had closed the criminal insubordination case against the founder of Wagner.
Images broadcast on the talk show showed police entering Prigozhin’s St. Petersburg residence — a spacious, luxurious mansion with a helicopter parked on the floor — reportedly on June 25.
Russian authorities have stepped up efforts to undermine the businessman-turned-mercenary leader’s reputation amid the fallout from his aborted rebellion, revealing Prigozhin’s lavish lifestyle belied the public image of an anti-corruption crusader he sought to create.
Pictures broadcast on Wednesday evening showed police discovering piles of rubles, dollars, gold bars, assault weapons, a locker full of wigs and several passports in Prigozhin’s name but with pictures of different people.
Other findings included a souvenir hammer, which has come to symbolize the brutality of Wagner’s mercenaries after videos purporting to show fighters Clubbing Traitors to death appeared on the Internet last year.
Pictures of Prigozhin in disguise were circulated by Telegram channels associated with the Kremlin, and the outlet “Ostorozhno, Novosti” mentioned. Prigozhin was alleged to have used disguises as a Sudanese defense official, a Libyan officer and an Emirati diplomat.
During a talk show Wednesday night, journalist Petrov disputed reports earlier this week that police had returned 10 billion rubles ($111 million), “hundreds of thousands” of dollars, five gold bars and a weapons cache to Prigozhin.
“It will become interesting in the coming days and hours,” he said, noting that public attacks against Prigozhin would continue.
AFP contributed to this report.
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