- Wagner’s mercenaries arrived within hours of Moscow and threatened Putin’s grip on power.
- The Russian army is led by billionaire and former close ally of President Putin Evgeny Prigozhin.
- Prigogine’s rebellious march to Moscow culminated in a months-long feud with the Russian military chief.
Wagner’s chief Evgeny Prigozhin insisted that he did not want to spill a single drop of Russian blood and said he would order the mercenaries to turn back before they entered Moscow.
by voice message Posted on Telegram Prigozin said he would change his policy to prevent violence. The billionaire, who claims he commands an army of 25,000, said his army would now return to camp. “As planned,” he insisted.
The sudden reversal came after the Belarusian government claimed that President Aleksandr Lukashenko had met with Prigozhin all Saturday.
Lukashenko, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, had previously held talks with the Russian side, reports said. press statementand managed to come to an agreement with Wagner’s command “about the unacceptability of causing a bloody massacre on Russian territory.”
Moscow was preparing for armed conflict. On Saturday afternoon, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin urged residents to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel while authorities conduct a “counter-terrorist operation”, ordering them to stop working and stay at home on Monday.
Prigozhin was a long-time Russian president aide and was dubbed “Putin’s chef” after he became wealthy with a state-run catering contract. But the outspoken billionaire has had feuds with Russian military leaders for sabotaging the war effort since the 2022 all-out invasion of Ukraine.
He launched a “march for justice” on Friday, claiming without credible evidence that Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered airstrikes on Ukraine’s Wagner forces.
Putin accused Prigozhin of treason in a speech on Saturday. The Russian Federal Security Service has issued an arrest warrant for him on suspicion of inciting an armed rebellion.
But with most of the Russian army bogged down in Ukraine, there are few security forces left to directly confront Wagner. The mercenaries quickly captured the port city of Rostov-on-Don, home to over a million people, and then marched towards Moscow.
Russian authorities were trying to block Wagner’s progress by blocking and actually sabotaging the M4 highway that ran from the capital to Rostov-on-Don. According to videos and photos shared on social media, Wagner’s forces also possessed sophisticated air defenses, limiting the Kremlin’s ability to attack from the air.