Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin has agreed to leave Russia for Belarus as part of a deal to end his armed uprising, with charges against him to be dropped, the Kremlin said.
Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, said that fighters from Prigozhin’s militia would not be charged “because of their deeds on the front”. He added that some Wagner fighters who “came to their senses” and had not taken part in the uprising would sign contracts with the Russian defence ministry.
Prigozhin announced on Saturday evening that Wagner mercenaries had abandoned their attempted insurrection just hours before a potential assault on Moscow. It was the first coup attempt in Russia for three decades.
In a deal brokered by Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said his convoy of troops, weapons and tanks would stop their journey towards Moscow and return to their bases after 24 hours of crisis in which the Kremlin scrambled to turn the capital into a fortress to fight off the rebels.
“Right now the moment has come when blood could be spilled. Therefore, understanding all the responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our convoy around and going back to our basecamps, according to the plan,” Prigozhin said in a voice memo posted to social media.
He did not specify what the “plan” was.
Putin had asked Lukashenko to mediate in the hope of avoiding any further bloodshed because the Belarusian leader has known Prigozhin for 20 years, Peskov said.
Peskov described Saturday’s uprising — in which Wagner shot down several army helicopters, captured a major army command post and marched most of the way from the Ukrainian border to Moscow — as “fairly difficult” and “full of tragic events”. But he said “there were higher goals of escaping bloodshed and internal confrontation”.
Putin will not make any further comments on the incident, Peskov said, adding that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would continue.
Wagner paramilitaries loyal to Prigozhin began to leave Rostov on Saturday evening, according to state newswire Tass. Video posted online by state media and Wagner-affiliated social media channels showed the fighters thanking locals, who cheered, clapped and chanted in support.
The governor of a Russian province on the route of Prigozhin’s uprising said officials would begin to roll back security restrictions.
Igor Artamonov, the governor of Lipetsk, said the region would “start to cancel the restrictions introduced today” and reopen federal highways that had been closed. He said they had already begun rebuilding roads damaged in the advance.
“We all stood up to defend the interests of our country with honour and dignity. Lipetsk region will not let the president and Russia down,” Artamonov posted on social media.
Putin had earlier vowed to crush the insurrection and accused Wagner of “treason” that posed “a deadly threat to our statehood” comparable to the 1917 revolution that led to the collapse of imperial Russia.
Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny followed months of increasingly bitter infighting between the warlord and the leaders of Russia’s armed forces, exacerbated by 16 months of war against Ukraine.
The conflict has failed to achieve its aims, hamstrung the country’s economy, cost tens of thousands of lives and created a dangerous patchwork of competing militias and security forces.
Prigozhin had previously said his Wagner forces no longer wanted to live “under corruption, lies and bureaucracy”.
Lukashenko’s press service said on Saturday that the agreement came after the Belarusian leader spent “the entire day” negotiating with Prigozhin after “agreeing on joint actions” with Putin and “additionally clarifying the situation through his own channels”.
It said Prigozhin had accepted [Lukashenko’s] request to “stop the movement of armed men from the Wagner company on Russian territory and [take] further steps to de-escalate the situation”.
“At the moment, there is an absolutely advantageous and acceptable way to defuse the situation on the table, with security guarantees for Wagner’s fighters,” the press service added.
Belarus said Putin thanked Lukashenko. “The president of Russia supported and thanked his Belarusian colleague for his work,” it said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv’s troops had “launched an offensive in several directions at the same time” on Saturday, apparently seizing an opportunity to counterattack against Moscow’s forces while the power struggle was under way in Russia.
“In the direction of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut, Bohdanivka, Yahidne, Klishchiivka, Kurdyumivka . . . There is progress in all directions,” Maliar said. “The enemy is on the defensive, making great efforts to stop our offensive actions,” she continued. “At the same time, the enemy is suffering significant losses in personnel, weapons and equipment.”
Maliar said that several Russian attacks in the east, backed with heavy artillery and air power, had been repelled.
An adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy mocked Prigozhin for his failure to oust the Russian president.
“Prigozhin’s phenomenal choice . . . you almost nullified Putin, took control of the central authorities, reached Moscow and suddenly . . . you retreat,” tweeted Mykhailo Podolyak.
Podolyak predicted that Prigozhin risked being assassinated, saying “for the fear that the Putin elite has experienced in the past 24 hours, this order will certainly be executed”.
Additional reporting by Christopher Miller and Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv
