On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin practically declared war on the Russian state, on Saturday his mercenaries occupied Rostov-on-Don and marched on Moscow through Voronezh and Lipetsk.
The situation was so serious that it was said to be the biggest internal crisis in Russia.
“It is a suicidal action,” Kirill Šamiev, an expert on civil-military relations and the Russian military from the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Denník N on Saturday afternoon. “Because Prigozhin will come out of this either as a winner or as a corpse. If he’s really lucky, he might end up in prison for the rest of his life.”
And then suddenly Prigozhin, after negotiating with the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, announced that he would withdraw and sent the columns of mercenaries back to their bases. In the million-strong city of Rostov-on-Don, his mercenaries packed up and people applauded them goodbye.
What exactly Prigozhin was offered to stop his march is not clear. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Saturday evening that Prigozhin would leave
This article is exclusive content for Denník N subscribers.
Are you a subscriber? Log in