Criminal charges against Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin will be dropped and he will move to Belarus, the Kremlin said late on June 24, 2023, after Wagner fighters marching on Moscow began turning back.
The deal
“Prigozhin will go to Belarus and charges against him and Wagner mercenaries who participated in the uprising will be dropped,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Axios. Wagner fighters who did not take part in the rebellion would be able to sign contracts with Russia’s Defence Ministry, Peskov said.
The agreement was brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “There was a higher goal — to avoid bloodshed, to avoid an internal confrontation,” Peskov said.
Turning back
Prigozhin said he had ordered his fighters to stop and return to their bases to avoid “Russian bloodshed.” He said Wagner forces had come within about 200 km (120 miles) of Moscow.
A day of rebellion
The mutiny began on June 23, when Prigozhin accused the Russian Defence Ministry of striking Wagner positions and vowed to remove the military leadership. Wagner fighters took control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, including the headquarters of the Southern Military District, and moved north towards Moscow, where authorities stepped up security.
In a televised address on the morning of June 24, President Vladimir Putin called the rebellion “treason” and a “stab in the back,” vowing to punish those responsible.
Sources
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