Russia: Armed mercenary group halts rebellion after deal with Kremlin

The group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to go to Belarus after Russian authorities agreed to drop charges against his fighers.

Jun 25, 2023 - 10:30

Russia: Armed mercenary group halts rebellion after deal with Kremlin

The leader of an armed Russian mercenary group on Saturday said he has ordered his troops to halt their march to Moscow in order to avoid bloodshed, Reuters reported.

Earlier in the day, the armed group – Wagner – claimed it has taken control of the southern Russian city of Rostov in an attempt to oust the country’s military leadership. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the group, later claimed that his troops had reached within 200 kilometres of Moscow.

“In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters’ blood,” Prigozhin, dressed in a combat uniform, said in a video released from an undisclosed location. “Understanding ...that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned.”

The Kremlin arrived at a deal with the Wagner group, according to which Prigozhin will go to neighbouring Belarus and Russian authorities would drop charges of mounting an armed rebellion against him, the Associated Press reported.

The Russian government also said that it would not prosecute fighters who took part in the attempt to oust the military leadership.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that in allowing Prigozhin and his armed group to go free, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s highest...