2023-06-24 20:22:00
Turn in the Russian power struggle? The head of the Wagner group, Prigozhin, said in an audio message that he had ordered his troops back. The march on Moscow will be stopped. He wanted to prevent such bloodshed.
The head of the Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, apparently ordered his troops to return to their bases. He wanted to avoid bloodshed, according to an audio message from Prigozhin. Wagner mercenaries had been advancing towards Moscow since last night.
The Belarusian presidential office also announced that Prigozhin was ready to stop the advance of his fighters in Russia. President Alexander Lukashenko spoke to Prigozhin with the consent of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. There is an agreement on the safety of the Wagner fighters on the table.
Prigozhin: Wagner mercenaries 200 kilometers from Moscow
Prigozhin said his fighters were within 200 kilometers of Moscow. The convoy left for the Russian capital after a power struggle between Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry escalated.
On the night of Saturday, the Wagner troops advanced from the Ukraine to Russia. According to Prigozhin, they occupied military installations in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, home to the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District – a command center for the war against Ukraine.
Putin himself had described his ex-confidant Prigozhin as a “traitor” that morning. “This is a stab in the back of our country and our people,” Putin said. Anyone who takes up arms and organizes an armed uprising will be punished, Putin said in a televised speech.
“The President is badly mistaken”
The mercenary boss then accused Putin of completely misjudging the situation. “The President is badly mistaken,” he said in a voice message on his Telegram channel. He described his own role with the words: “We are patriots of our homeland.”
Prigozhin announced that he would end “corruption, lies and bureaucracy” in Russia. The mercenary boss, who claims to have around 25,000 fighters at his disposal, openly challenged Putin for the first time. The Russian Armed Forces have about 1.5 million service members.
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