Mutinous Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has turned his troops back from Moscow to “avoid bloodshed” in the Russian city.
In an audio message, the rebellious mercenary group leader said his soldiers would return to their bases, in a dramatic U-turn just hours before they were expected to reach the city.
He said he gave the order to turn back from their advance on Moscow, after earlier taking control of military bases in the cities of Rostov and Voronezh, “because of the risk of blood being spilled”.
The announcement appeared to defuse a growing crisis as people in Moscow braced for the arrival of the private army, with residents told to stay at home and work cancelled on Monday.
It comes after Russian president Vladimir Putin vowed Mr Prigozhin would face harsh consequences for what he described as a “criminal campaign” equivalent to “armed mutiny”.
Mr Prigozhin said his men were just 120 miles from Moscow but he had decided to turn them back to avoid “shedding Russian blood”.
In his audio message on Saturday evening, Mr Prigozhin said: “They wanted to disband the Wagner military company. We embarked on a march of justice on June 23. In 24 hours we got to within 200 km of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters’ blood.
“Now the moment has come when blood could be spilled. Understanding responsibility [for the chance] that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned.”
Wagner’s soldiers will return to their bases after Prigozhin halted their advance on Moscow hours before they reached the city— (AFP via Getty Images)
He did not say if the Kremlin had responded to his demand to oust defence minister Sergei Shoigu in a bid to “restore justice”.
The de-escalation of the crisis comes after the office of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Mr Putin, claimed he had negotiated a deal with Mr Prigozhin after discussing the situation with Mr Putin.
Mr Lukashenko’s office said the Wagner boss had accepted his offer to halt the group’s advance, saying that the proposed agreement would contain guarantees for the safety of Wagner troops.
Mr Putin earlier said Russia would defend and “repel” the actions of Wagner forces, which he said were a “stab in the back of the troops and the people of Russia”.
Wagner is a private paramilitary group run by Mr Prigozhin who claims to have more than 25,000 fighters under his command. Its capture of military sites in Rostov is significant because the city serves as a main rear logistical hub for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The group’s advance comes after Mr Prigozhin accused Mr Putin’s army of bombing a training camp in Bakhmut, Ukraine, which killed dozens of his troops.
