Heavily armed Russian mercenaries withdrew from the southern Russian city of Rostov overnight under a deal that defused an unprecedented challenge to the authority of President Vladimir Putin and halted their rapid advance on Moscow.
Fighters of the Wagner group returned to their bases in return for guarantees for their safety and the leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, will move to Belarus, according to the agreement mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Western leaders had expressed concern over the turmoil in Russia, which has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. On Sunday, the foreign ministry in Moscow said China — a key Putin ally — had expressed support for the Russian leadership. The show of support for Wagner’s short-lived insurrection will alarm authorities in a country that is increasingly intolerant of public criticism of Putin and his rule.
Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to mediate, with Putin’s approval, because he had known Prigozhin personally for around 20 years. Wagner, whose men in Ukraine include thousands of ex-prisoners recruited from Russian jails, has grown into a sprawling international business with mining interests and fighters in Africa and the Middle East.
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