Russian media reported yesterday, Wednesday evening, footage from the search conducted at the St. Petersburg residence of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, during the attempted armed military uprising that took place in late June.
In these photographs, which appear to have been taken by law enforcement and were suddenly published in both public and private Russian media, show a large, luxurious residence with a helicopter parked in the garden.
According to these photographs, investigators also discovered during their search bundles of dollars and rubles, gold bars, numerous weapons, as well as passports bearing different names and a closet full of wigs.
The Fontanka website, based in St. Petersburg, also reported that a photograph showing «severed heads» was found at Prigozhin’s residence, whose mercenaries are often accused of atrocities.
Fontanka also published a photo showing a massive sledgehammer in a room at Prigozhin’s home, the metal head of which bears the message «In case of important negotiations.».
The «sledgehammer» is one of Wagner’s symbols; she boasts that she uses this weapon to execute or brutally torture her enemies.
The Wagner Group’s mutiny on June 24 shook the Russian government at a time when it is at war in Ukraine. Its fighters had seized a Russian Army headquarters in Rostov (southwestern Russia) for several hours and were heading toward Moscow.
The uprising ended on the evening of June 24 with an agreement that provided for Prigozhin’s departure for Lithuania. Prigozhin assured that his rebellion was not aimed at overthrowing the government, but at saving Wagner, which the Russian General Staff was threatening to disband.
Since then, analysts in the Russian state media have portrayed him as a greedy businessman who has lost his mind, after becoming wealthy thanks to lucrative contracts he had signed with the Russian government over the years.
No sanctions have been announced against the rebels; however, the future of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s businesses, his media empire, and his efforts to influence developments both in Russia and abroad—particularly in Africa—appears uncertain.
