Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to allow powerful mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to be released and leave for Belarus after 24 tense hours that posed the Kremlin leader’s greatest threat to his more than two-decade rise to power and sparked fears of a possible bloody attack civil war.
Prigozhin, whose troops had been the most effective fighters among Putin’s forces since invading Ukraine in February 2022, had turned against the Russian military and led a so-called armed insurgency, using its forces – which he claimed numbered 25,000 men counted – ordered the advance towards Moscow before halting his so-called “March for Justice” on June 24.
The Kremlin later confirmed that it had reached an agreement with Prigozhin to end the uprising and said the mercenary leader would move to Belarus and a criminal case against him would be dropped. It was not immediately known where Prigozhin was early June 25, or if he had left for Belarus.
In return, Wagner fighters who joined Prigozhin on his march would not be prosecuted, the Kremlin said. Under the deal, Wagner fighters who did not take part in the march will come under the direct control of the Russian military – a move Prigozhin vehemently opposed when he was leading his troops in the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Lukasenka helped broker the deal, the Kremlin said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Lukasenka guaranteed Prigozhin’s safety.
Hours later, the governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, said on Telegram that the Wagner troops were withdrawing in convoys, accompanied by tanks and other vehicles, from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and making their way to their field camps. The mercenaries had previously taken control of a military base in the city of 1.2 million, near the border with Ukraine.
It was not immediately clear where they would be based or how many had taken part in the march to Moscow. They had previously fought in Ukraine, but Prigozhin had announced that they would surrender their positions to the Russian military.
Putin had vowed to punish those behind his former protégé’s armed insurgency. In a televised address to the nation, Putin called the uprising a “treason” and “treason.”
Prigozhin claimed his fighters got within 200 kilometers of the capital without bloodshed, a possible indication of the Kremlin’s support within the country’s security structures.
WATCH: RFE/RL reporters documented events in Voronezh and Rostov-on-Don during an armed uprising by the Wagner mercenary group that shook Russia on June 24. The group launched a military column towards Moscow before its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced that he canceled it to “avoid bloodshed.”
Armed uprising rocks Russia
“We turn our columns and return to the encampments according to our plan,” Prigozhin said in a short, fiery audio message posted on Telegram on June 24th.
Though the uprising appears to be over for now, it has left the authoritarian Russian leader weak and vulnerable, experts say.
“The fact that this was moderated by Lukashenka strikes me as extremely embarrassing,” said Sam Greene, Russia expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis. said in a tweet. “This whole episode may have shattered the air of inevitability that has kept him aloft for the last 23 years.”
Earlier in the day, as a sign of the seriousness of the situation, Putin felt compelled to address the nation and said on television he would do so “Anything to protect the country.”. He also called the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey to update them on the situation.
The armed uprising, unprecedented in post-Soviet Russia, put other nations on high alert, and US President Joe Biden contacted his counterparts in France, Germany and Britain
Putin must now deal with the aftermath of the mutiny as Ukraine presses ahead with its full-scale counteroffensive, a crucial endeavor that could alter the course of the conflict, including opening the spigot further to deadly Western military aid.
Prigozhin’s forces entered Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia in the early hours of June 24, where they easily captured key infrastructure before pushing north toward Moscow with little resistance, shocking the country and the world.
According to reports, the Russian military once fired on Wagner forces as they made their way across the highway towards Moscow, although RFE/RL could not confirm such an incident.
Top Russian officials and figures – including former President Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill, and Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin – reiterated Putin’s call for Russian citizens to rally and for Wagner troops to to stop the uprising.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally and since 2007 at the helm of the republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, said he would use Chechen troops to “preserve Russia’s unity and protect its statehood.”
“Personal Ambition”
The Russian leader said Prigozhin “betrayed” his country out of “personal ambitions”.
Prigozhin responded promptly to Putin’s accusations of treason, saying in an audio message that the Russian president was “deeply mistaken” and that he and his armed forces were “patriots of the motherland.”
SEE ALSO: Prigozhin’s “mutiny” and the challenge to Putin
Prigozhin began his march toward Moscow on June 23 after accusing the Russian Defense Ministry of launching artillery and helicopter gunship missile attacks on its forces’ rear bases in Ukraine, allegedly killing many of his men. The Kremlin called the mercenary leader’s allegations false.
Prigozhin’s uprising followed months of heated public disputes with the Russian military leadership over its war strategy in Ukraine and munitions supplies.
During the spring, the Wagner boss repeatedly accused Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov of deliberately withholding ammunition supplies for his troops in Bakhmut, the scene of the bloodiest battle of the war.
Wagner militants seen in key Russian city after calling for ‘uprising’
Semon Pegov, a pro-Russian military blogger, said in an April 29 interview with Prigozhin that there was speculation that the Russian military was withholding ammunition from Wagner for fear the mercenary leader might use it to storm Moscow and seize power take over.
Prigozhin replied that it was an “interesting idea” but claimed he hadn’t thought about it.
But just a month later, after his troops captured Bakhmut in Russia’s first war victory in about a decade, Prigozhin toured several Russian regions and gave interviews to local media, which some experts said was a clear sign of his political ambitions.
SEE ALSO: Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Meanwhile, Putin appeared to side with the Russian Defense Ministry in the dispute with Prigozhin, appearing alongside Shoigu in a show of support.
Peskov said after the June 24 deal that Putin’s support for Shoigu had not changed.
In his audio statement announcing the withdrawal of his troops, Prigozhin claimed that the Kremlin tried to disband his Wagner group.
Aleksandar Djokic, a political analyst, said in a tweet that Prigozhin probably “got wind of” losing favor with Putin and carried out the mutiny to prove his worth.
He said it appeared Prigozhin had won the stalemate, showing Putin “he was too dangerous”.
While the uprising gave Muscovites goosebumps, it was welcomed in Kiev.
In a Telegram message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the events showed “Russia’s weakness” and warned that the longer Russian troops remain on his country’s soil, the “more chaos, pain and problems” Russia will suffer.
Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Prigozhin’s operation highlighted the simmering feud among the Russian leadership, which is not likely to end anytime soon.
“The split between the elites is too obvious,” he said, adding that the power struggles in Russia “are only just beginning.”
With coverage from Current Time, AP, AFP, dpa, Portal, Interfax and TASS.