Police in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Tuesday announced they have returned about $111 million worth of rubles, U.S. dollars, and gold bars seized in raids on June 24 to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the billionaire owner of the Wagner Group mercenary company who led a very brief “mutiny” against the Russian military command on that day.
The Moscow Times reported the seizure of Prigozhin’s cash and gold was conducted as part of the “criminal mutiny investigation” into the onetime close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The confiscated loot weighed “a couple of tons,” according to a St. Petersburg newspaper called Fontanka.
According to Prigozhin, the money was earmarked for paying the salaries of Wagner Group mercenaries and to pay benefits to the families of those who died fighting for the company in Ukraine and other theaters.
The Moscow Times quoted police reports that said most of the cash was seized in cardboard boxes stacked inside two parked minivans, which were still sitting in their parking spots on Monday night when the police decided to return the loot.
The relationship between Prigozhin, Putin, the Wagner Group, and the Russian government has become rather complex. The Putin regime dropped all charges against Prigozhin after he agreed to halt his heavily-armed march on Moscow and accept exile in Belarus, which is presumably why his cardboard boxes full of currency and gold were returned.
As recently as Sunday morning, Russian officials said the confiscated funds would not be given back to Prigozhin.
Fontanka also reported that Prigozhin was spotted arriving in person at a St. Petersburg office of the FSB, the Russian state security service, accompanied by a personal security team. According to this report, Prigozhin was in town to collect his personal arsenal of combat rifles and handguns, including a Glock pistol he was given years ago by the man who has become his nemesis, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The stated purpose of the Wagner Group mutiny was to kick Shoigu out of office, take him into custody, and/or execute him, ostensibly because his incompetent leadership turned the Ukraine invasion into a bloody quagmire.
Prigozhin released a new audio message on Monday via the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, his preferred method of communicating with the public. Prigozhin strongly implied that the Wagner Group would soon return to active duty in Ukraine.
“I want you to understand that our ‘March of Justice’ was aimed at fighting traitors and mobilizing our society. In the near future, I am sure that you will see our next victories at the front. Thanks, guys!” the usually irascible mercenary boss chirped in his strangely upbeat communique.
There are signs that Putin is moving aggressively to seize control of the Wagner empire, which includes a number of very profitable security contracts in Africa. The Russian Defense Ministry might take control of Wagner’s soldiers, who appear to have been more brutally effective in Ukraine than regular Russian troops. A move by Shoigu to conscript Wagner and other private military contractors (PMC) was the event that precipitated Prigozhin’s eight-hour mutiny.
On the other hand, Fontanka’s reports paint Prigozhin as much less of an Enemy of the State than might be expected for the exiled leader of an insurrection that came remarkably close to invading Moscow. Some reports from last week suggest the Putin regime is having difficulty taking control of Wagner’s lucrative operations and keeping them in smooth working order without Prigozhin’s leadership.
There is also the matter of Prigozhin’s popularity in Russia, which remains stubbornly high despite an all-out propaganda offensive from the government after he declared his “March for Justice.”
Polls cited by NBC News on Tuesday found Prigozhin’s popularity slipped from 55 percent to 29 percent over the past ten days. Older Russians turned more decisively against him, while young Russian men who have long viewed him as a tough-talking outsider who gets things done remained relatively loyal, and they still have a very high opinion of Wagner fighters.
“A video shared on social media and verified by NBC News showed young people waving Wagner flags at a graduation concert in Moscow’s Gorky Park on Saturday. Graduation balls across multiple regions of Russia, including Moscow, were postponed during Prigozhin’s revolt out of concerns for public safety,” NBC reported.