SVE NEWS & FRANCE24.COM Sharing Series — Wagner chief agrees to leave Russia following Belarus-brokered deal

Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said Saturday that a contingent of his fighters who advanced towards Moscow in what he described as a rebellion against Russian military leaders would turn back to avoid bloodshed, de-escalating a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power. In a deal brokered by Minsk, Prigozhin will move to Belarus and Wagner fighters who took part in the advance will not be punished, the Kremlin said. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

 

Fighters of Wagner private mercenary group pull out of the headquarters of the Southern Military District to return to base, in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. © Reuters

 

05:08am: US spy agencies detected signs of Prigozhin’s plans on Wednesday – New York Times

US spy agencies picked up signs days ago that mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was preparing to rise up against Russia’s defense establishment, US media reported on Saturday.

Intelligence officials conducted briefings at the White House, the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill about the potential for unrest in nuclear-armed Russia a full day before it unfolded, the Washington Post and New York Times reported.

Spy agencies first began tracking indications that Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary force intended to move against the Russian military leadership in mid-June, the Post said.

The Times said the information was both solid and alarming by mid-week, leading to the flurry of briefings.

As US intelligence officials pinned down information that Prigozhin was preparing military action, they grew concerned about chaos in a country with a powerful nuclear arsenal, the Times reported.

US spy agencies believe that Putin himself was informed that Prigozhin, once a close ally, was plotting his rebellion at least a day before it occurred, the Post reported.

02:36am: Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the businessman and founder of the Wagner Group?

* Prigozhin, 62, has for decades been known as “Putin’s chef” due to his company’s Kremlin catering contracts. It’s unclear how friendly he and Russian President Vladimir Putin are, but they know each other and both men were born and raised in St Petersburg.

* After serving a long prison sentence in the 1980s, Prigozhin started out selling hotdogs in his hometown. He soon began to build up a stake in a chain of supermarkets, and eventually opened his own restaurant and catering company.

* His restaurant gained a reputation for its fine food and was soon hosting city dignitaries including then deputy mayor Vladimir Putin.

* From there, Prigozhin’s catering firm Concord began to win government supply contracts, taking its operations to a much bigger level.

* Prigozhin admitted last September that he had founded the private military group in 2014, the year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. The Wagner Group has fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali, among other countries.

* The group also provided support to Russia-backed separatists who seized a chunk of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in 2014.

* Last month the group seized the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after some of the war’s most brutal fighting.

* The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Prigozhin for his role in Wagner. They also accuse him of funding a troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency that Washington says tried to influence US elections.

01:28am: Russian highways restrictions lifted

All restrictions previously imposed on highways in Russia have been lifted, the TASS news agency said early on Sunday, citing the Federal Road Agency.

Heavily armed Russian mercenaries who advanced most of the way to Moscow began turning back on Saturday, de-escalating a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power, in a move their leader said would avoid bloodshed.

11:30pm: Wagner mercenary fighters have left Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, says regional governor

Wagner group fighters have left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don with their leader Yevegeny Prigozhin and are headed back to their field camps, the regional governor said Sunday.

Heavily armed Russian mercenaries who advanced most of the way to Moscow began turning back on Saturday, de-escalating a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power in a move their leader and the Kremlin said would avoid bloodshed.

The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow before abruptly reversing course will move to neighboring Belarus and not face prosecution, the Kremlin said Saturday, as part of a deal to defuse a crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.

Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the headquarters of the Southern Military District amid the group’s pullout from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. © Alexander Ermochenko, Reuters

11:15pm: Prigozhin ‘humiliated Putin’ with mutiny, says Zelensky aide

Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has humiliated Russian President Vladimir Putin with his aborted rebellion, the Ukrainian presidency said Saturday.

“Prigozhin humiliated Putin/the state and showed that there is no longer a monopoly on violence,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Twitter.

11:10pm: Three thousand elite Chechen troops sent to protect Moscow

Three thousand elite Chechen troops took up positions in Moscow early on Saturday morning to defend the Russian capital against advancing mutineers from the Wagner mercenary group, the Chechen state broadcaster “Grozny” said on Saturday night.

“The fighters have been at their positions in Moscow since early morning and are ready to carry out any order from Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin,” it said on Telegram.

10:04pm: Kremlin says Wagner fighters won’t be punished for rebellion, criminal case against Prigozhin is closed

Wagner Group fighters will not face punishment for rebellion as a criminal case against their chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is closed, Kremlin spokesman says.

Wagner fighters who did not take part in the advance on Moscow will sign contracts with the Russian defence ministry, the Kremlin said. Other fighters will not be prosecuted, it said, in recognition of their service.

“We have always respected their heroic deeds at the front,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

9:56pm: Prigozhin to move to Belarus under deal to end Wagner rebellion, Kremlin says

Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin will move to Belarus under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to end an armed rebellion that Prigozhin had led against Russia’s military leadership, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to mediate, with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s agreement, because he had known Prigozhin personally for around 20 years.

9:55pm: Wagner begins pulling back fighters from Russia’s Rostov-on-Don

The Wagner Group on Saturday began pulling back fighters and equipment from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, after the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin halted an advance on Moscow.

A tank, several cargo trucks and several minivans carrying fighters left the military headquarters that the group had occupied earlier, an AFP reporter saw.

9:31pm: Ukrainian forces have made advances near Bakhmut, defence ministry says

Ukraine’s military said on Saturday that its forces had made advances near Bakhmut, one of the focal points of fighting on the eastern front, and in an area further south.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar, writing on Telegram, said an offensive was launched near a group of villages ringing Bakhmut – the town taken by Wagner Group forces last month after months of fighting.

“In all these areas, we have made advances,” Maliar wrote.

Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, commander of the Tavria, or southern, front, said Ukrainian forces had liberated an area near Krasnohorivka, west of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk. He said the area had been under Russian control since separatist forces backed by Moscow took control of it in 2014.

9:15pm: Authorities in Russia’s Lipetsk begin lifting travel restrictions following Wagner reversal

Authorities in the southern Russian region of Lipetsk on Saturday began lifting travel restrictions after Wagner Group mercenaries that had earlier entered the province announced they would fall back.

“We are beginning to lift restrictions introduced today,” the region’s governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram.

Artamonov earlier said that residents were “strongly recommended not to leave their houses or to make trips on any mode of transport” while Wagner fighters were “moving across” the region towards Moscow.

8:56pm: Belarus says Putin thanked Lukashenko for negotiating with Wagner chief

Minsk said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko after Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin announced he was turning around his forces.

“The President of Belarus informed the President of Russia in detail about the results of negotiations with the leadership of PMC Wagner,” Lukashenko’s press service said in a statement, adding Putin “thanked his Belarusian colleague”.

7:44pm: Prigozhin says Wagner fighters will return to base, so to not ‘spill Russian blood’

Wagner Group fighters who surged most of the way to Moscow have agreed to turn back to avoid bloodshed, their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday, in a de-escalation of what had become a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

The Wagner fighters were already most of the way to the Moscow, having captured the city of Rostov-on-Don and set off on a 1,100 kilometre race to the capital.

In an audio message, Prigozhin said the fighters would return to base because of the risk of blood being spilled.

“We are turning our columns around and going back to field camps,” Prigozhin announced. He said he understood the importance of the moment and did not want to “spill Russian blood”.

Prigozhin also said that Wagner fighters had advanced to within 200 kilometres of Moscow.

Earlier, Prigozhin said his men were on a “march for justice” to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian military commanders. On Friday, he accused Russia’s military of attacking Wagner fighters.

7:25pm: Belarus says Wagner chief agrees to halt fighters’ movements in Russia

The office of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday that he had brokered a deal with Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who agreed to halt the further movement of the group’s fighters across Russia.

The announcement was carried on the official Telegram channel of the Belarusian presidency.

7:14pm: ‘Breakage in the system’ of Russia’s war was ‘inevitable’, Ukrainian intelligence source says to FRANCE 24

A Ukrainian military intelligence source told FRANCE 24 said that a “breakage in the system” of Russia’s war effort was “inevitable”. The source said, however, that it is still possible for President Vladimir Putin to “strangle” the Wagner Group’s rebellion. FRANCE 24’s Gwendoline Debono reports from Zaporizhzhia.

7:10pm: Top US military officer Milley cancels Middle East trip due to situation in Russia

Army General Mark Milley, the top US military officer, has cancelled a trip to the Middle East because of the situation in Russia, his spokesperson said.

Milley, who was meant depart today for a trip to Israel and Jordan, also spoke today with his Ukrainian counterpart, Milley’s office said in a separate statement.

6:32pm: Biden has spoken with Macron, Germany’s Scholz and UK’s Sunak about situation in Russia

US President Joe Biden on Saturday discussed the situation in Russia with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom as rebellious Wagner Group mercenaries advanced towards Moscow, the White House said.

“The leaders discussed the situation in Russia. They also affirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine,” a readout said.

A White House spokesman also said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by their national security team Saturday morning and will continue to be briefed throughout the day.

6:29pm: Ukrainian authorities see Wagner rebellion as weakening Putin’s power

Ukrainian authorities are saying that the ongoing Wagner Group rebellion in Russia is a logical outcome of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and see it as weakening President Vladimir Putin’s power, FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg reports. A Ukrainian military expert told the correspondent that despite the uprising, the situation on Ukraine’s front lines remained largely unchanged.

6:03pm: France advises against all travel to Russia

France advised against all travel to Russia given the “high volatility” of the military and security situation in the country, its foreign ministry said on Saturday on its website.

5:43pm: Moscow mayor asks residents to refrain from trips, declares Monday a non-working day ‘to minimise risks’

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Saturday asked people to refrain from trips around the city as far as possible given a counterterrorism operation had been declared and said the situation was “difficult”.

Sobyanin also said in a statement that Monday would be a non-working day – with some exceptions – in order “to minimise risks”.

He issued the statement as rebellious Wagner mercenary fighters appeared to be continuing to drive towards Moscow from southern Russia.

5:11pm: Russia’s Kaluga region introduces travel restrictions as Wagner forces advance towards Moscow

Authorities in the Kaluga region south of Moscow on Saturday introduced travel restrictions as Wagner Group forces moved towards the Russian capital.

“Please refrain from travelling by private vehicle on these roads unless absolutely necessary,” governor Vladislav Shapsha said in a statement on social media, referring to transport arteries between his region and several others, including those bordering Ukraine.

The restrictions in Kaluga are in place as Wagner mercenaries were “moving across” the Lipetsk region some 400 kilometres south of Moscow, that region’s governor said Saturday. Lipetsk is south and slightly east of Kaluga, and the two regions are separated by the Tula region.

4:57pm: Erdogan calls for ‘common sense’ amid Wagner rebellion in phone call with Putin

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey was ready to help seek a “peaceful resolution” to an armed rebellion in Russia in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, his office said.

Erdogan “underlined the importance of acting with common sense”, the Turkish presidency said in a statement. “President Erdogan said that we, as Turkey, are ready to do our part for the peaceful resolution of events in Russia as soon as possible.”

For its part, the Kremlin said Saturday that Erdogan had voiced full support for Putin during the call.

“The president of Russia gave information about the situation in the country in connection with an attempted armed rebellion,” the Kremlin said in a statement. “The president of the republic of Turkey expressed full support for the steps taken by the Russian leadership.”

 

Issued on: 24/06/2023 – 03:37Modified: 24/06/2023 – 22:05