The Wagner Chief has agreed to return thousands of his battle-hardened fighters back to bases to “avoid” the “risk of blood being spilled” in the Russian capital.
The President’s office in Belarus said that Alexander Lukashenko spoke with Yevgeny Prigozhin the head of the Wagner Group and came to an agreement.
The Belarusian presidency said that Wagner fighters agreed to stop any further advancements to Moscow and halted all movement across Russia.
However, earlier this afternoon a “coup d’etat” was formerly declared in the Russian Federation by the Freedom of Russia Legion who started launching attacks inside the country last month.
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The Legion has called on all Russian soldiers and army officers to “unleash your weapons on the Kremlin” which comes as Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prighozin along with thousands of Wagnerites are heading to Moscow.
The Legion said that Vladimir Putin has had “20 years of chances” and during that period he has robbed “people in other countries, to rape civilians in Ukraine, but not to protect his people.”
Prigozhin said in a released audio message that all his fighters across the whole of Russia will immediately stop all advancements and return to their respective bases.
Prigozhin said, he “gave the order to turn back because of the risk of blood being spilled,” however this is far from the end of this crisis.
It is understood that Wagner forces will be given a reprieve by returning back to their bases, but for Prigozhin it remains unclear what may happen to him.
The Wagner chief said, “We left on June 23 for the march of justice,” Prigozhin adds in his audio messaged.
“In a day we travelled, not reaching 200 km, to Moscow.
“During this time, we have not shed a single drop of the blood of our fighters.
“Now the moment has come when blood could be shed, therefore, realising all the responsibility for the fact that Russian blood will be shed on one of the sides, we turn our columns around and return in the opposite direction to the field camps, according to the plan.”
There is now the question of how Wagner Group can now continue in the Ukraine war as earlier today Vladimir Putin ordered an aerial attack directly on Prigozhin to “liquidate” him.
The feud between Prigozhin and the Russian Defence Ministry is still ongoing and it this stage it is not known Wagner can continue to fight alongside Russian army soldiers in Ukraine.
Prigozhin claimed that he and his troops were “saving Russia” and has made demands that the Russian authorities give up Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
Prigozhin said, “We want to get the chief of the General Staff and Shoigu.
“Until they are here, we are here, we are blocking the city of Rostov and go toward Moscow.”
Earlier this morning Prigozhin said, “Those who destroyed our lads, who destroyed the lives of many tens of thousands of Russian soldiers, will be punished. I ask that no one offer resistance…
“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to figure out why chaos is happening in the country,” he added that they will destroy any checkpoints or air forces that gets in their way.
