Billions of confiscated cash were returned to Head of Wagner PMC

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), was given back RUB10 billion [approx. US$111,313 million – ed.] which security officials found during searches in St Petersburg after his attempted rebellion

Source: local media outlet Fontanka.ru

Details: It is noted that as early as Sunday morning on 2 July, the investigation was not going to give back to Prigozhin the RUB10 billion, hundreds of thousands of dollars and five bars of gold found during searches, but by the evening of the same day the opposite decision was made.

After the initiation of a criminal case on attempted rebellion in St Petersburg, searches were conducted at various facilities affiliated with Prigozhin.

Firstly, an old Gazelle was discovered in the courtyard of the Trezzini Palace Hotel, from where they took dozens of boxes with RUB₽4 billion, and a little later, in the underground parking lot of the River Palace Hotel, another 80 boxes with RUB6 billion were removed from the minivan. As for gold and dollar cash, they were found in offices related to Prigozhin's business.

According to Fontanka, by the evening of Sunday 2 July, Yevgeny Prigozhin was given back everything. However, he was not present at the procedure itself. According to preliminary data, the leader of the Wagnerites was in Moscow.

On July 2, his driver came with a power of attorney for money instead of him. The journalist of the outlet does not know whether the driver personally loaded this money and into which truck – the total weight of such an amount in 5,000 bills reaches several tons.

Also, the Russian publication Podyem writes that the authorities of Rostov-on-Don would not recover RUB90 million [approx. US$1 million – ed.] from Wagner PMC.

The aftermath of the armed capture of Rostov was dealt with at the expense of the city budget, they say.

Background:

• On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".
• Prigozhin claimed that his forces had taken control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, including the air base, and were heading "to Moscow", and that his soldiers had shot down at least three Russian helicopters. Wagner mercenaries also seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.
• In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and that attempts were being made to "organise a rebellion" in the country.
• On the afternoon of 24 June, Russian media reported that the Office of the President of the Russian Federation anticipated that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group fighters would likely reach Moscow’s outskirts in the next few hours, with fighting expected near Russia’s capital. Ukrainian intelligence had information that Putin had urgently left Moscow for his residence in Valdai. The Wagner Group convoy was spotted 400 km from Moscow.
• On Saturday evening, following a conversation with self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin announced that his mercenaries were turning their convoys around and going back to set up field camps. Later, it was reported that the criminal case against Prigozhin was to be closed and he would "go to Belarus".
• On 3 July, after many days of silence, Prigozhin claimed that his "march of justice" was targeted against traitors, and at the moment he is expecting "next victories on the front".

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