Mercenaries Halt Advance on Moscow

In a surprising turn of events, the heavily armed Russian mercenaries associated with the Wagner army, who had been steadily advancing towards Moscow, abruptly halted their progress. The decision, hailed by their leader as a means to avoid violence, marks a de-escalation of a significant challenge to President Putin’s grip on power.

According to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and the founder of the Wagner army, his forces came within 125 miles (200 km) of the capital on Saturday. Prior to their arrival, Moscow had deployed soldiers and instructed residents to stay indoors in anticipation of their approach.

The Wagner fighters, in convoys equipped with tanks and armored trucks, captured the city of Rostov, hundreds of miles south of Moscow, and swiftly advanced north, breaching barricades that had been set up to impede their progress. Video footage showcased their vehicles en route to the capital.

However, on Saturday night, they began withdrawing from the Rostov military headquarters they had seized, as witnessed by Reuters. In a video statement from an undisclosed location, Prigozhin, dressed in full combat uniform, expressed their decision, saying, “In 24 hours, we got to within 200 km of Moscow. In this time, we did not spill a single drop of our fighters’ blood.” He further explained that to prevent the loss of Russian lives, they were turning their columns around and returning to their field camps as planned.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the exact distance reached by Prigozhin’s mercenaries, although earlier video footage had shown their convoys less than 310 miles (500 km) away from Moscow.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov revealed that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal wherein the criminal case against Prigozhin for armed mutiny would be dropped. Prigozhin, along with his forces, would relocate to Belarus, and the Wagner fighters who participated in the “march for justice” would face no repercussions, acknowledging their previous service to Russia.

While Peskov described the day’s events as “tragic,” he emphasized that Lukashenko’s mediation aimed to avoid confrontation and bloodshed. Peskov refrained from disclosing any concessions made to Prigozhin, apart from guarantees of safety provided to him personally, as vouched for by President Putin, and assurances of safety for his men, which persuaded him to order the withdrawal of all his forces.

The swift insurrection led by Prigozhin and his fighters raised concerns about the limited resistance they encountered from Russia’s regular armed forces, leading to questions regarding Putin’s hold on power in the nation. Earlier, Prigozhin had stated that his “march” on Moscow aimed to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders whom he blamed for the mishandling of the conflict in Ukraine.

In response, President Putin, in a televised address, declared that the rebellion posed a threat to Russia’s very existence. He vowed punishment for those responsible for the “armed insurrection” and emphasized that the nation was fighting to protect the lives, security, sovereignty, and independence built over its thousand-year history.

The developments triggered a flurry of high-level calls between Western leaders, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, highlighted the turmoil within Russia. He stated, “Today, the world can see that the masters of Russia control nothing. Simply complete chaos. An absence of any predictability.”