Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin will move to Belarus under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to end an armed mutiny that Prigozhin had led against Russia's military leadership, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Lukashenko had offered to mediate, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's agreement, because he had known Prigozhin personally for around 20 years.
Peskov said the criminal case that had been opened against Prigozhin for armed mutiny would be dropped, and that the Wagner fighters who had taken part in his "march for justice" would not face any action, in recognition of their previous service to Russia.
Fighters who had not taken part would be invited to sign contracts with the Defence Ministry, which is seeking to bring all autonomous volunteer forces under its control by July 1.
What happened?
Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and founder of the Wagner Group, said his men reached within 200 kilometers of Moscow on Saturday, with the aim of removing what he called corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders who he blames for botching the conflict in Ukraine.
Earlier, Moscow deployed soldiers in preparation for their arrival and told residents to stay indoors. Video showed that the Wagner fighters captured the city of Rostov hundreds of kilometers to the south before racing north in convoy, transporting tanks and armoured trucks and smashing through barricades set up to stop them.
Read more:
Explainer: Why has an armed mutiny erupted in Russia?
According to a Reuters witness, the Wagner group began withdrawing from the Rostov military headquarters they had seized starting from Saturday night.
In a televised address, Putin said the 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 on Saturday, vowing punishment for those behind "an armed insurrection."
International reaction
While Russia said the rebellion would have no impact on its operation in Ukraine, Kyiv said the unrest offered a "window of opportunity" as the nation pressed its long-awaited counter-offensive.
"Today the world can see that the masters of Russia control nothing. And that means nothing. Simply complete chaos. An absence of any predictability," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
The United States and its allies publicly stayed on the sidelines as officials waited to see how the revolt would play out.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain amid concerns that Putin's control over the nuclear-armed country could be slipping.
Moscow issued a stiff warning to the United States and its allies to stay back.
"The rebellion plays into the hands of Russia's external enemies," the Foreign Ministry said.
(With input from Reuters, AFP)
(Cover: Wagner Group fighters leave the area of the Southern Military District headquarters and the nearby territory in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. /CFP)