The mediation of the Belarusian president Lukashenko was decisive: Belarus will host Prigozhin’s exile, who – according to the agreement mentioned by the Kremlin spokesman – will not be tried in Russia
The sedition attempt is over.
Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group mercenaries halted their march on Moscow when they were only 200km from the capital on Saturday evening, to avoid shedding “Russian blood,” Prigozhin said.
Wagner’s men have been ordered back to their camps in the Ukraine, where they have so far fought alongside regular Russian soldiers.
The mediation of the Belarusian president was decisive for the end of the revolt Alexander Lukashenko: Belarus will host Prigozhin’s exile, who – according to the agreement cited by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov – will not be tried in Russia.
Peskov himself said that the “highest goal” of the Russian president Vladimir Putin it was “to avoid bloodshed and internal clashes with unpredictable results”.
On Saturday, the peaceful advance (even if, in the end, 15 Russian soldiers died) of the Wagner group was welcomed by the citizens, especially in Rostov sul Donthe headquarters city of Russian operations in Ukraine.
As they passed, the militiamen were applauded for a long time, as evidenced by numerous videos published by “Grey Zone”, a Telegram channel close to the Wagner group.
Prigozhin’s enemies
While criticizing Vladimir Putin for calling him a “traitor” in his Saturday morning live TV speech, accusing him of “armed rebellion”, Prigozhin’s real target was the defense minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimovwho from 1 July wanted to incorporate Wagner into the Russian army, taking control of it away from Prigozhin himself.