MOSCOW: Heavily armed Russian mercenaries who advanced most of the way to Moscow began turning back on Saturday, de-escalating a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power, in a move their leader said would avoid bloodshed.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and founder of the Wagner army, said his men reached within 125 miles of the capital. Earlier, Moscow deployed soldiers in preparation for their arrival and told residents to avoid going out.
The Wagner fighters captured the city of Rostov hundreds of miles to the south before racing in convoy through the country, transporting tanks and armoured trucks and smashing through barricades set up to stop them,
On Saturday night, Wagner fighters loaded tanks on trailers and began withdrawing from the Rostov military headquarters they had seized, a Reuters witness said.
“In 24 hours we got to within 200 km of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters’ blood,” Prigozhin, dressed in full combat uniform at an undisclosed location, said in a video. “Understanding … that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that under a deal brokered by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, the criminal case opened against Prigozhin for armed mutiny would be dropped.
He said Prigozhin would move to Belarus and Wagner fighters who joined his “march for justice” would face no action, in recognition of their previous service to Russia. Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to mediate because he had known the mercenary leader personally for around 20 years.
Earlier, Prigozhin said that what he called a “march for justice” was intended to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.
In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin earlier said the Wagner rebellion put Russia’s very existence under threat. “We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history,” Putin said, vowing punishment for those who “prepared an armed insurrection”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Wagner revolt, which sparked a flurry of high-level calls between Western leaders, exposed turmoil in Russia.
“Today the world can see that the masters of Russia control nothing. And that means nothing. Simply complete chaos. An absence of any predictability,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
Western capitals said they were closely following the situation. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to G7 counterparts.
The top US military officer, Army General Mark Milley, cancelled a scheduled trip to the Middle East because of the developments.
“This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times,” Britain’s defence ministry said earlier as Prigozhin’s fighters bore down on Moscow.
The insurrection risked leaving Russia’s invasion force in Ukraine in disarray, just as Kyiv is launching its strongest counteroffensive since the war began in February last year.
