Russia Crisis: Prigozhin Retreats To Belarus As Kremlin Drops Charges Against Wagner Leader

Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin will go to Belarus with criminal charges against him dropped in a deal to end his insurrection, Moscow has revealed.

Prigozhin said he was turning his forces around from a march toward Moscow shortly after the Belarusian government said it had reached a deal with him to halt the advance.

Information Nigeria had reported earlier that, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to punish those behind the “armed uprising” after Wagner claimed control of military facilities in two Russian cities.

Prigozhin had accused Russia’s military leadership of striking a Wagner camp on Friday.

It’s the first time Prigozhin has been seen in public since he announced that his troops would “turn back” from Moscow and return to “field camps.”

However, it is unclear where Prigozhin is currently en route to, but per the apparent deal, he is expected to be sent to Belarus and not face any criminal charges.

In a post on Telegram, Prigozhin said the move was done to avoid bloodshed.

Tass, a media outlet run by Russia’s government, reported the criminal case against Prigozhin would be dropped.

The news agency reported that Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also said Prigozhin would “go to Belarus” and that Wagner soldiers would not be prosecuted.

Kremlin said, Saturday, as part of a deal to defuse a crisis, the rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow before abruptly reversing course will move to neighboring Belarus and not face prosecution.

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The charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin for mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped and the troops who joined him also will not be prosecuted, according to Dmitry Peskov.

Kremlin’s spokesman, announced that fighters from his Wagner Group who did not take part in the uprising will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry.

In allowing Prigozhin and his forces to go free, Peskov said Putin’s “highest goal” was “to avoid bloodshed and internal confrontation with unpredictable results.”

But after the deal was struck, Prigozhin announced that while his men were just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he had decided to retreat to avoid “shedding Russian blood.”

His troops were ordered back to their field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian regular soldiers.

Recall Prigozhin demanded the ouster of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, long the target of his withering criticism for his conduct of the war in Ukraine.

On Friday, he accused forces under Shoigu’s command of attacking Wagner camps and killing “a huge number of our comrades.”

Though Prigozhin did not say whether the Kremlin had responded to his demand.

Peskov furthered the issue could not have been discussed during the negotiations, which were conducted by the president of Belarus, and is the “exclusive prerogative of the commander in chief.”

If Putin were to agree to Shoigu’s ouster, it could be politically damaging for the president after he branded Prigozhin a backstabbing traitor.

 

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