Wagner Group chief says he ordered his Russian mercenaries to halt march on Moscow

The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow earlier than abruptly reversing course will transfer to neighboring Belarus and never face prosecution, the Kremlin stated Saturday, as a part of a deal to defuse a disaster that represented probably the most vital problem to President Vladimir Putin in his greater than twenty years in energy.

The expenses in opposition to Yevgeny Prigozhin for mounting an armed rebel shall be dropped and the troops who joined him additionally is not going to be prosecuted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov introduced, and fighters from his Wagner Group who didn’t participate within the rebellion shall be provided contracts by the Defense Ministry.

Putin had vowed to punish these behind the armed rebellion led by his onetime protege, whose forces seized a key army facility in southern Russia earlier than advancing on the capital. In a televised speech to the nation, Putin referred to as the rebel a “betrayal” and “treason.”

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

Moscow had braced for the arrival of the Wagner forces by erecting checkpoints with armored automobiles and troops on the town’s southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to keep off some roads.

But after the deal was struck, Prigozhin introduced that whereas his males had been simply 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he had determined to retreat to keep away from “shedding Russian blood.” His troops had been ordered again to their area camps in Ukraine, the place they’ve been preventing alongside Russian common troopers.

Prigozhin has demanded the ouster of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, lengthy the goal of his withering criticism for his conduct of the struggle in Ukraine. On Friday, he accused forces underneath Shoigu’s command of attacking Wagner camps and killing “a huge number of our comrades.”

Prigozhin didn’t say whether or not the Kremlin had responded to his demand. Peskov stated the problem couldn’t have been mentioned through the negotiations, which had been carried out by the president of Belarus, and is the “exclusive prerogative of the commander in chief.”

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

Early Saturday, Prigozhin’s personal military appeared to management the army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a metropolis 660 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) south of Moscow, which runs Russian operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense stated.

A nighttime video from the town posted on Russian messaging app channels confirmed individuals cheering Wagner troops as they left Rostov-on-Don. Prigozhin was seen driving in one of many automobiles, and other people greeted him and a few ran to shake his hand as he lowered the window. The regional governor later stated that the entire troops had left the town.

Wagner troops and tools additionally had been in Lipetsk province, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of Moscow.

Authorities declared a “counterterrorist regime” in Moscow and its surrounding area, enhancing safety and limiting some motion. On the southern outskirts, troops erected checkpoints, organized sandbags and arrange machine weapons. Crews dug up sections of highways to sluggish the march.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared Monday a non-working day for many residents as a part of the heightened safety, a measure that remained in impact even after the retreat.

The dramatic developments got here precisely 16 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s largest battle since World War II, which has killed tens of 1000’s, displaced thousands and thousands and diminished cities to rubble.

Ukrainians hoped the Russian infighting would create alternatives for his or her military to take again territory seized by Russian forces.

Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare on the International Institute for Strategic Studies, stated that even with a deal, Putin’s place has in all probability been weakened and “these events will have been of great comfort to the Ukrainian government and the military.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated late Saturday, shortly earlier than Prigozhin introduced his retreat, that the march uncovered weak point within the Kremlin and “showed all Russian bandits, mercenaries, oligarchs” that it’s simple to seize Russian cities “and, probably, arsenals.”

Switching into Russian in his every day video tackle, Zelenskyy stated “the man from the Kremlin” was “very afraid.” He repeated his requires the West to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

Prigozhin had vowed earlier that his fighters, whom he stated quantity some 25,000, wouldn’t give up as a result of “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”

“Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland,” he stated in an audio message on his Telegram channel.

He posted video of himself on the army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and claimed his forces had taken management of the airfield and different army amenities within the metropolis with none deaths and even “a single gunshot.”

Russian media, nonetheless, reported that a number of helicopters and a army communications airplane had been downed by Wagner troops. The Kremlin referred a query in regards to the losses to the Defense Ministry, which has not commented.

The short-lived rebel got here as Russia is “fighting the toughest battle for its future,” Putin stated, with the West piling sanctions on Moscow and arming Ukraine.

“The entire military, economic and information machine of the West is waged against us,” Putin stated.

State-controlled TV networks led their newscasts with Putin’s assertion and reported the tense state of affairs in Rostov-on-Don. Broadcasters additionally carried statements from prime Russian officers and lawmakers voicing help for Putin, condemning Prigozhin and urging him to again down.

Chechnyan strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who prior to now has sided with Prigozhin in his criticisms of Russia’s army, additionally expressed help for Putin’s “every word.”

“The mutiny needs to be suppressed,” Kadyrov stated.

Wagner troops have performed an important position within the Ukraine struggle, capturing the japanese metropolis of Bakhmut, an space the place the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. But Prigozhin has more and more criticized the army brass, accusing it of incompetence and of ravenous his troops of munitions.

In asserting the rebel, Prigozhin accused Russian forces of attacking the Wagner camps in Ukraine with rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery. He alleged that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, ordered the assaults following a gathering with Shoigu wherein they determined to destroy the army contractor.

The Defense Ministry denied attacking the camps.

The 62-year-old Prigozhin, a former convict, has longstanding ties to Putin and received profitable Kremlin catering contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef.”

He gained consideration within the U.S. when he and a dozen different Russian nationals had been charged with working a covert social media marketing campaign aimed toward fomenting discord forward of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory. Wagner has despatched army contractors to Libya, Syria, a number of African international locations and ultimately Ukraine.

The rebel appeared possible to additional hinder Moscow’s struggle effort in Ukraine, as Kyiv’s forces probed Russian defenses within the preliminary levels of a counteroffensive.

Orysia Lutsevych, the top of the Ukraine Forum on the Chatham House assume tank in London, stated the infighting may create confusion and potential division amongst Russian army forces.

“Russian troops in Ukraine may well now be operating in a vacuum, without clear military instructions, and doubts about whom to obey and follow,″ Lutsevych said. “This creates a unique and unprecedented military opportunity for the Ukrainian army.”

Western international locations monitored developments intently. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his counterparts within the different G7 international locations and the European Union’s overseas affairs consultant, his spokesman stated, including that Blinken “reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change.”

Latvia and Estonia, two NATO international locations that border Russia, stated they had been rising safety at their borders.

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Associated Press author Danica Kirka in London contributed.

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Follow AP protection of the struggle in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war