Wagner Chief leaves Russia in deal to ease crisis

RUSSIA: The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will leave Russia and won’t face charges after calling off his troops’ advance on Saturday, Moscow said. The feud between Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s military brass came to a violent head in the past day, with his forces capturing a key Army headquarters in southern Russia and then heading north to threaten the capital.

Within hours of Prigozhin’s about-face, the Kremlin announced he would leave for Belarus and Russia would not prosecute either him or the group’s members.

It had been a dramatic day of developments, with President Vladimir Putin warning against civil war and Moscow telling locals to stay off the streets.

The tide shifted suddenly when Prigozhin made the stunning announcement that his troops were “turning our columns around and going back to field camps” to avoid bloodshed in the Russian capital.

Prigozhin, who has feuded bitterly with Moscow’s military leadership even as his outfit led parts of Russia’s Ukraine offensive, said he understood the importance of the moment and did not want to “spill Russian blood.”

By early Sunday Wagner had pulled fighters and equipment from Rostov-on-Don, where they had seized the military headquarters, said the regional governor.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said he had negotiated a truce with Prigozhin, drawing thanks from Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told reporters that the “criminal case against him (Prigozhin) will be dropped. He himself will go to Belarus.”

Peskov also said that members of Wagner who had taken part in what authorities termed an “armed rebellion” will not be prosecuted.

“Avoiding bloodshed, internal confrontation and clashes with unpredictable results was the highest goal,” Peskov added.

Responding to the challenge in a televised address, Putin accused Prigozhin of a “stab in the back” that posed a threat to Russia’s very survival.

“Any internal turmoil is a deadly threat to our statehood and to us as a nation. This is a blow to Russia and to our people,” Putin said, demanding national unity.

“Extravagant ambitions and personal interests led to treason,” Putin said, referring to Prigozhin, who began building his power base as a catering contractor. – THE MOSCOW TIMES