Global Courant
The head of Wagner’s mercenaries has pulled the plug on his Russian media assets.
Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has shut down his Russian media group The Patriot, according to reports first published Friday.
According to The Moscow Times, the Patriot monitored dozens of separate media outlets and publications.
Patriot operations have been shut down for days by Russian officials following Prigozhin’s attempted rebellion against the Russian government.
PUTIN WANTED TO ‘DESTRUCT’ PRIGOZHIN BUT GOT TALK BY LUKASHENKO, BELARUS LEADER SAYS
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the headquarters of the Southern Military District amid the group’s withdrawal from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia. (REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
All outlets under the group, including People’s News and Economics Today, are closing permanently. The group also owns the Internet Research Agency, a “troll factory” that conducts online influence campaigns, according to the Moscow Times.
Prigozhin has not publicly confirmed the closure of The Patriot media holdings.
Putin claims Wagner had no public support in attempted mutiny: ‘THE PEOPLE WERE NOT WITH THEM’
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (R) enter the room during the Supreme Economic Eurasian Council at the Grand Kremlin Palac in Moscow, Russia. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Prigozhin reportedly marched 25,000 mercenaries almost all the way to Moscow over the weekend, demanding the ouster of the Russian military leadership before making an abrupt U-turn.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he had convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin not to “exterminate” Prigozhin during last week’s short-lived uprising, which Putin had called “treason”.
Putin had vowed to annihilate the rebels, comparing the incident to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing civil war, but Lukashenko claimed to have brokered a deal whereby Prigozhin would move to Belarus and fighters from the Wagner Group would not be prosecuted.
PENTAGON SAYS WE ARE NOT INVOLVED IN WAGNER’S SHORT MUTE, CALLS IT AN ‘INTERNAL RUSSIAN MATTER’
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the military company Wagner Group, records his video speeches in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. (Prigozhin Press Service via AP)
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Lukashenko said Tuesday that Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus and his men are welcome to stay in the country “for some time” at their own expense, The Associated Press reported.
The Belarusian president also boasted that fighters from the Wagner group will be an asset to his own army now that they have taken up residence in Belarus.
“This is the best trained unit in the army,” the BelTA state service quoted Lukashenko as saying. “Who will contradict this? My soldiers also understand this, and we have no such people in Belarus.”
Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com
