Mr Lukashenko said on June 27 that Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, had arrived in Belarus as part of a deal to defuse the crisis three days earlier.

But Mr Lukashenko told reporters on Thursday that Prigozhin was now in St Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, or may have moved to Moscow. "He is no longer on Belarusian territory," Mr Lukashenko said.

President Lukashenko also said that the question of Wagner units moving to Belarus has not been resolved and will depend on Russia's and Wagner's decisions.

According to flight tracking data, a commercial plane linked to Prigozhin left St Petersburg for Moscow on Wednesday and headed to southern Russia on Thursday, but it was unclear whether the mercenary leader was on board.

"We are not building barracks. We have provided them with some old military barracks that were used in Soviet times, including near Osipovichi. If they agree. But Wagner has a different vision for the deployment, of course, I will not tell you about this vision," Mr Lukashenko said.

President Lukashenko also said he did not consider Wagner's presence in Belarus a risk for his country and did not believe that Wagner would take up arms against Belarus.

Mai Anh (according to Reuters)