Any threats of an armed coup in Russia vanished quickly on Saturday as Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's "advance to Moscow" was called off after striking a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This saw Wagner fighters ending their march to Moscow and returning to their bases in the South. The deal will also have the Wagner chief moving to Belarus.
Ending what could have been Russia's first armed coup, mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said that he wanted to avoid shedding Russian blood. "Now the moment has come when blood can be shed," he said. "Therefore, realising all the responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be shed from one side, we will turn our convoys around and go in the opposite direction to our field camps."
Prigozhin has earlier claimed that his men reached within 125 miles (200 km) of the capital on Saturday.
However, he retreated after negotiations with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday night. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later announced that the criminal case opened against Prigozhin for armed mutiny would be dropped. The over 25,000 soldiers who took part in the "march for justice" would not face any action in recognition of their previous service to Russia. Peskov added that the Kremlin has "always respected their heroic deeds" on the front lines.
"An agreement was reached on the return of PMC Wagner to their locations. Part of those who will wish to do so, will sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense — this concerns those who did not take part in the march, indeed, there were such formations which, from the very beginning, changed their minds and returned. They even requested to be escorted by the traffic police and other assistance in order to return to their permanent locations," he said.
Prigozhin was later seen leaving Rostov-on-Don though other details are unknown.
Earlier the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin came on state television on Saturday morning, stating that the rebellion put Russia's very existence under threat, though he did not name Prigozhin. "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," Putin said. The President vowed to punish those behind "an armed insurrection".
"It’s an attempt to subvert us from inside. This is treason in the face of those who are fighting on the front," Putin told the Russian public. "This is a stab in the back of our troops and the people of Russia." The response, he promised, would be "brutal".
Wagner march
Russia almost plunged into chaos after the Wagner army marched towards Moscow, to grab power. The mercenary force claimed it already controlled two Russian military facilities, including Rostov-on-Don, a key operations base for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Prigozhin also publically hit out at Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov, demanding them to come and meet him at Rostov-on-Don. "We have arrived here; we want to receive the chief of the general staff and Shoigu," Prigozhin said in one video. "Unless they come, we’ll be here; we’ll blockade the city of Rostov and head for Moscow."
Soon visuals showed the Wagner convoy of tanks and armoured trucks moving north, smashing through barricades. "In 24 hours we got to within 200 km 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.
Russia too mobilized forces with reports claiming that the army dug anti-tank ditches into federal highways, erected machine-gun emplacements at the city limits, and deployed infantry fighting vehicles on the streets of Moscow. The state also instructed people to stay indoors. Sergei Sobyanin said that Monday would be a “non-working day” to “minimise risks”.