Lithuanian defence minister Arvydas Anušauskas says there are signs of “fragmentation” of Wagner mercenary group after the purported death of its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, and its troops are leaving Belarus.
On Friday, he called the security situation at the Lithuania-Belarus border and in the region “stably unstable”.
“What is happening with the Wagner group in Belarus now, I would say, this is still new information, and it will probably not take long for it to start reaching us because we can already see the changes, we can see the fragmentation, we can see the attempts to leave Belarus for Russia. All sorts of things are happening,” the minister told reporters in Šalčininkai District.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and we are receiving information not only from our institutions, not only from the Second Investigation Department [military intelligence], but also from our partners,” he said.
A private jet linked to the Wagner group crashed near Tver in Russia on Wednesday, exactly two months after Wagner’s aborted mutiny in Russia, killing all 10 people onboard. Prigozhin and his right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin, are believed to have been among the passengers.
The information on Prigozhin’s death, however, has not yet been conclusively confirmed.
Asked what the fate of the Wagner might be, Anušauskas refrained from speculation.
“I can only say that every prigozhin will be replaced by a new prigozhin,” he said. “The spot may be simply filled by other people with different ties to Russia’s Defence Ministry, and that’s it,” he said. “But the situation […], yes, it’s dangerous, [...] but the overall security situation is dictated by the war in Ukraine, and all the other actions are linked to that.”
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