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- Wagner Group militia members turn back, away from Moscow.
- De-escalation effort brokered by Belarus leader.
- Yevgeny Prigozhin to move to Belarus under terms of deal.
Heavily armed Russian mercenaries who advanced most of the way to Moscow began turning back on Saturday, de-escalating a major challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power, in a move their leader said would avoid bloodshed.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and founder of the Wagner army, said his men reached within 200 kilometres of the capital. Earlier, Moscow deployed soldiers in preparation for their arrival and told residents to avoid going out.
The Wagner fighters captured the city of Rostov hundreds of kilometres to the south before racing in convoy through the country, transporting tanks and armoured trucks and smashing through barricades set up to stop them, video showed.
On Saturday night, Wagner fighters loaded tanks on trailers and began withdrawing from the Rostov military headquarters they had seized, a Reuters witness said.
“In 24 hours we got to within 200 kilometres of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters’ blood,” Prigozhin, dressed in full combat uniform at an undisclosed location, said in a video.
“Understanding … that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned.”
Reuters could not independently verify how far Prigozhin’s mercenaries had reached. Video earlier showed convoys of Wagner vehicles less than 500 kilometres from Moscow.
The office of Alexander Lukashenko said the decision to halt further movement of Wagner fighters across Russia was brokered by the Belarusian president, with Putin’s approval, in return for guarantees for their safety.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Prigozhin himself will move to Belarus under the deal. Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to mediate because he has known the mercenary leader personally for around 20 years.
Wagner’s lightning insurrection appeared to develop with little pushback from Russia’s regular armed forces, raising questions about Putin’s grip on power in the nuclear-armed nation even after the abrupt halt to Wagner’s advance.
Earlier, Prigozhin said his men were on a “march for justice” to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.
In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin earlier said Russia’s very existence was under threat.
“We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history,” he said, vowing punishment for those who “who prepared an armed insurrection.”
Zelenskyy: ‘Complete chaos’ in Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Wagner revolt exposed “complete chaos” in Russia.
“Today the world can see that the masters of Russia control nothing. And that means nothing. Simply complete chaos. An absence of any predictability,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
The brief revolt by mercenary fighters who surged most of the way to Moscow and the war of words between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin represent a clear split between the two, according to defence industry analyst and former British army officer Nicholas Drummond.
Video obtained by Reuters showed troop carriers and two flatbed trucks each carrying a tank driving 50 kilometres beyond Voronezh, more than halfway to Moscow.
A helicopter fired on them near Voronezh, where a fuel depot exploded in a fireball shortly after a helicopter flew by, video footage obtained by Reuters showed.
Ex-prisoners in Wagner forces
The fighters led by Prigozhin, a former convict, include thousands of ex-prisoners recruited from Russian jails.
Prigozhin’s men fought the bloodiest battles of the 16-month Ukraine war, including the protracted battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut. He railed for months against the regular army’s top brass, accusing generals of incompetence and of withholding ammunition from his fighters.
This month, he defied orders to sign a contract placing his troops under Defence Ministry command.
He launched the apparent mutiny on Friday after alleging that the military had killed many of his fighters in an air strike. The Defence Ministry denied this.
He said he had captured the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District without firing a shot in Rostov, which serves as the main rear logistical hub for Russia’s entire invasion force in Ukraine. The surrounding area is also an important oil, gas and grains region.
Residents of the city had milled about calmly, filming on mobile phones as Wagner fighters in armoured vehicles and battle tanks took up positions.
One tank was wedged between stucco buildings with posters advertising a circus. Another had “Siberia” daubed in red paint across the front, an apparent statement of intent to sweep across the breadth of Russia.
“Will there be civil war?” a woman in Rostov asked the mercenaries. “No, everything will be fine,” one answered.
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