Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin has reportedly won back more than $100 million in cash and gold bars seized by Russian authorities in the midst of his short-lived June insurrection, as the oligarch-warlord continues negotiations with the Kremlin as to the stripping of his assets and his enforced exile in Belarus, reports newsweek.com.
St. Petersburg news outlet Fontanka reported Tuesday—citing undisclosed internal sources—that around 10 billion rubles ($111.2 million) made up of boxes of U.S. dollars and five gold bars were returned to the disgraced oligarch, who last month led a Wagner Group mutiny against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chair of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
The assets were confiscated by Russian authorities in raids on properties linked to Prigozhin on June 24, the day after Wagner Group fighters seized control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and a column set out towards Moscow.
The group briefly threatened to storm the capital until Prigozhin reached a deal with the Kremlin—facilitated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko—to abandon the mutiny and go into exile in Belarus. In exchange, Russian authorities are not pursuing criminal charges related to actions initially described as “treason” by President Vladimir Putin.
Agencies
