06/25/2023 03:44 (act. 06/25/2023 03:50)
Kremlin Spokesperson: Charges Against Prigozhin Dropped ©APA/AFP/TELEGRAM/ @concordgroup_official
The power struggle between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin ended with a deal after Wagner mercenaries marched on Moscow. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said late Saturday night that Prigozhin would go to Belarus and the charges against him would be dropped. Wrestlers in his Wagner group would also not be prosecuted. He has “the president’s word” as a guarantee for free withdrawal.
Furthermore, according to the Kremlin spokesman, some of the mercenaries will be given a contract to serve in the Russian armed forces. According to his own statements, the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko persuaded Prigozhin to give up his uprising. Lukashenko volunteered to be a mediator because he had known Prigozhin personally for about 20 years, Peskov said. Prigozhin himself did not directly comment on this.
Shortly before, the mercenary chief had announced that he would prevent his units from advancing on the Russian capital, Moscow. “Our columns are heading back to the fields in the opposite direction,” he said in a voice message published by his press service on Telegram. So far, “not a drop of our fighters’ blood” has been spilled, Prigozhin said. “Now is the time when blood can be shed.” That’s why it’s time to flip the columns.
It was unclear at first whether, in addition to impunity, other concessions were being made or at least promised to Prigozhin to prevent his troops from advancing on Moscow. He was long considered a Putin confidant, an untouchable figure in the Russian power structure, until the Kremlin chief called him a “traitor” on Saturday morning – and thus publicly dismissed him. It is also questionable what will become of the foreign missions of Wagner’s army in the future, which represented Russian interests with armed force until the end, especially in Africa.
Wagner’s troops gave up their positions in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, which they held until early Sunday morning (local time). To applause from the civilian population, the first vehicles with mercenaries first left the Russian Southern Military Command headquarters – which they had occupied only hours before – before tanks and combat vehicles later left the city center. According to official information, all roadblocks on access roads around Moscow were lifted on Sunday morning.
The months-long power struggle between Prigozhin and the leadership of the Russian army escalated on Saturday night. The 62-year-old accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering an attack on a military camp by Wagner’s troops, thus risking the death of a “large number” of fighters. The notorious mercenary unit fought alongside regular Russian troops in Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine, most notably playing a major role in the capture of the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. However, there has been a dispute over competence and ammunition supplies for months.
After the alleged attack on the Wagner camp, which the Ministry of Defense in Moscow immediately denied, Prigozhin announced a “march of justice” to punish those responsible. On Saturday, his troops occupied military installations in Rostov-on-Don for the first time. Later it became known that other units marched towards Moscow. According to Prigozhin, the heads of his units were recently only about 200 kilometers from the Russian capital.
Even after the bloody power struggle has been averted, Monday in Moscow will remain a day off in the Russian capital, as advertised. A spokeswoman for Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed late on Sunday, at the request of the Ria-Novosti agency, that the decision he had taken was still valid.
In the early hours of the uprising by mercenaries from Wagner’s notorious private army, Sobyanin declared Monday a day off in Moscow for security reasons on Saturday morning and urged citizens to stay indoors. Later, Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered his troops to retreat to their camps. Prigozhin himself will go to Belarus, the Kremlin announced.
According to the Russian leadership, the progress of the war against Ukraine was not influenced by the Prigozhin uprising. The situation has no effect on the course of the “special military operation” – as the Kremlin calls the war of aggression, said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Nor is he aware that the president’s attitude toward Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has changed. Prigozhin accused Minister and Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov of incompetence and blamed the two for the many setbacks and high losses in the war.