Lukashenko mediates – After attempted coup: Wagner boss goes to Belarus

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said late Saturday that Prigozhin would go to Belarus and charges against him would be dropped. The fighters in his Wagner group would also not be prosecuted. He has “the word of the president” as a guarantee of the free admission. Prigozhin and Wagner fighters left the city of Rostov-on-Don again.

Earlier, they had occupied the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don without resistance and then moved on to Moscow in a military convoy that lasted several hours. According to Prigozhin, they got within 200 kilometers before he surprisingly ordered the troops back to their bases.

Roadblocks lifted
Citing the local traffic authority, the Russian news agency Tass reports that all road closures on Russian highways have been lifted. In the course of Saturday, the M-4 highway, which leads to Moscow from the south, was closed for security reasons due to the advancing military convoy of the Wagner Group.

Lukashenko as a mediator
The agreement was brokered by Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko, Peskov said. He offered his help because he had personally known Prigozhin for about 20 years. Putin agreed. Those Wagner fighters who did not take part in the march were asked to sign contracts with the Department of Defense and the participants were given immunity for their previous services to the nation. Both sides emphasized that they wanted to avoid bloodshed with the agreement. A video released by the Russian agency RIA showed Prigozhin leaving the region’s military headquarters in Rostov in an SUV.

Putin: “stab in the back”
Putin had previously accused Prigozhin of treason. In a speech he said: “What we are seeing is a stab in the back”. He also announced: “All those who have deliberately embarked on the path of treason, who have prepared an armed uprising, who have chosen the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will inevitably be punished.” bloodshed.

Withdrawal from Rostov-on-Don
Shortly after the agreement was announced, mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner fighters withdrew from Rostov-on-Don. They had also taken control of military installations in the city of Voronezh, halfway between Moscow. According to Reuters, they were shot at by military helicopters. In Moscow, security measures were temporarily increased and blockades put in place. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called on the population to stay at home and declared Monday a day off. The situation in Russia also put the rest of the world on edge. Western countries such as the US, Germany and France discussed the situation in crisis talks.

Open confrontation between Prigozhin and Putin
For months, Prigozhin had sharply criticized the military leadership around Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov, accusing them of incompetence. On Friday, he accused Shoigu of attacking the Wagner mercenaries from the air, killing many fighters. He also openly opposed his former patron Putin. “The president is making a big mistake when he speaks of treason,” Prigozhin said in an audio message on Telegram. No one will bow to the orders of the president. “Because we don’t want the country to live with corruption, fraud and bureaucracy.”

Prigozhin had also demanded the resignation of Shoigu and Gerasimov. Personnel changes at the Russian Defense Ministry are not part of the agreement, Kremlin spokesman Peskov stressed. These are only in the power of the Russian president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Vladimir Putin. “It is therefore unlikely that these issues have been discussed,” says Peskow.

What happened?
The power struggle between Prigozhin and the Russian army command, which had been smoldering for months, escalated on Saturday night. The 62-year-old accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering an attack on a military camp of the Wagner forces, risking the deaths of a “large number” of militants. The notorious mercenary unit fought alongside regular Russian troops in Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine, playing a particularly important role in the capture of the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. However, there has been disagreement over powers and ammunition stocks for months.

After the alleged attack on the Wagner camp, which the Moscow Defense Ministry immediately denied, Prigozhin announced a “march of justice” to punish those responsible. On Saturday, his troops occupied military facilities in Rostov-on-Don for the first time. It was later revealed that other units had marched towards Moscow.