The head of Russian Mercenary group, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has announced the retreat of his forces from their march towards Moscow.
On Saturday morning, June 24, Wagner forces seized military bases in Russia in an attempted coup d’etat, asserting their intention to change Russia’s military leadership in response to an alleged Russian strike on its military base in Ukraine.
This news led to widespread concern in the international media, prompting Putin to order his forces to quell the uprising and declare martial law in Moscow.
However, Wagner has now declared its retreat.
“They were going to dismantle PMC Wagner. We came out on 23 June to the March of Justice. In a day, we walked nearly 200km away from Moscow. During this time, we did not spill a single drop of blood of our fighters. Now, the moment has come when blood may spill. That’s why, understanding the responsibility for spilling Russian blood on one of the sides, we are turning back our convoys and going back to field camps according to the plan,” Prighozin stated on June 24, Saturday evening.
The President of Belarus, Lukashenko, was reportedly in talks with Prigozhin throughout the day and has been credited for brokering the peace agreement.
The agreement ensures security and immunity for fighters of PMC Wagner and drops all criminal charges against Prighozin.
Prigozhin has accepted the terms of Lukashenko’s agreement and agreed to halt the movement of his forces, taking them back to their bases.
It appears that the attempted coup has ended, and Prigozhin, along with his men, will be returning to their bases.
Restrictions on the movement of vehicles have been lifted from the Voronezh region, where clashes occurred during the coup.