Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says his forces are turning around from a march toward Moscow, in a decision he says was made to avoid Russian bloodshed. It comes amid reports a deal was struck between Prigozhin and the President of Belarus. 9News MORE:
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, has agreed to leave Russia for Belarus, the Kremlin said Saturday, in a deal that ends an armed insurrection, which posed the greatest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin's authority in decades.
The announcement defuses a crisis that began when Wagner troops took control of a key military facility in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and some fighters advanced towards the capital. But by Saturday evening, Prigozhin's calculus appeared to have changed, and the mercenary said his troops, who were 200 kilometres from Moscow, were stopping their advance in order to avoid bloodshed.
On Friday, Prigozhin accused Russian forces of striking a Wagner military camp and killing "a huge amount" of his fighters – a claim Russia's Ministry of Defense has denied and called an "informational provocation." On Friday, he said Moscow invaded Ukraine under false pretenses devised by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and that Russia is actually losing ground on the battlefield.
Russia's domestic intelligence service, FSB, opened a criminal case against Prighozhin for his threats, accusing him of calling for "an armed rebellion." The Wagner chief claimed his forces seized the Russian Southern Military Headquarters in the city of Rostov-on-Don "without firing a single shot," suggesting that "the country supports us."
"The fact is that Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] has known Prigozhin personally for a long time, for about 20 years," he said. Russian officials said detachments of Chechen special forces had been seen in Rostov to suppress the rebellion. However, CNN was unable to independently confirm that Chechen units have arrived in Rostov.
But US and Western officials are being careful not to weigh in on the events because of how Putin could weaponise any perceived outside involvement in the escalating crisis, sources familiar with the administration's thinking told CNN. Meanwhile, Ukraine took advantage of Russia's chaotic security situation on Saturday, launching simultaneous counter-offensives in multiple directions, Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's deputy Defense Minister, said in a Telegram post.
"The fact that Prigozhin took all his Wagner fighters into Russia now will definitely have an effect on our frontline," Serhii Cherevatyi said.A view of the Russian Defense Ministry building with anti-aircraft artillery systems atop the roof in Moscow, Saturday, June 24, 2023.The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, earlier announced over Telegram on Saturday evening that "a counter-terrorist operation regime has been declared in Moscow".
The declaration gives authorities a number of special powers including: restricting the movements of people and transport, monitoring or restricting communications, the right to search people and vehicles, evacuating the population if needed. "The situation in Rostov-on-Don remains difficult during the armed uprising. In Rostov, the work of civil and military administration is basically blocked," Putin said.
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