The head of the private Russian military company Wagner will move to neighboring Belarus as part of deal to defuse rebellion tensions and the criminal case against him will be closed, the Kremlin said Saturday.
Yevgeny Prigozhin's troops who joined him in the uprising will not face prosecution and those who did not will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Moscow had braced for the arrival of forces from the Wagner Group, a private army led by Yevgeny Prigozhin that has been fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine, by erecting checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on the city's southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads.
Putin had vowed harsh consequences for organizers of the armed uprising led by his onetime protege, who brought his forces out of Ukraine, seized a key military facility in southern Russia and advanced toward Moscow.“All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin said. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.
A nighttime video from the city posted on Russian messaging app channels showed Wagner troops getting ready to withdraw, hailed by shouts of “thank you!” and “well done!” in an apparent expression of relief following expectations of a bloody battle. Earlier videos had showed some residents yelling at Wagner mercenaries to leave.Authorities declared a “counterterrorist regime” in Moscow and its surrounding region, enhancing security and restricting some movement.
Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that even with a deal, Putin's position has probably been weakened and “these events will have been of great comfort to the Ukrainian government and the military.” Prigozhin had vowed earlier that his fighters, whom he said number some 25,000, would not surrender because “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”
Chechnyan strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who in the past has sided with Prigozhin in his criticisms of Russia's military, also expressed support for Putin's “every word.”Wagner troops have played a crucial role in the Ukraine war, capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, an area where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized the military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of munitions.
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