Yevgeny Prigozhin has announced that the Wagner Group will halt its troops’ advance on Moscow and return to field camps.
Also read; Armed mutiny in Russia! We will not allow another civil war – President Putin
The leader of the private military group made the announcement shortly after the office of Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko said the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has agreed to deescalate his force’s mutiny.
Lukashenko’s office said the president spoke to Prigozhin with the permission of Russian President Vladimir Putin to broker a deal to halt the movement of Wagner’s mercenaries across Russia.
The statement went further to state that an agreement that guarantees the safety of Wagner fighters is on the table.
The announcement was carried on the official Telegram channel of the Belarusian president.
Prigozhin quickly confirmed the deal, saying: “We are turning our columns around and going back to field camps.”
Prigozhin didn’t say whether the Kremlin has responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, but stated that he understood the importance of the moment and did not want to “spill Russian blood.”
DW reported that there
was no immediate comment from the Kremlin but the deal appears to diffuse a fast-growing crisis.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
