Russia on Tuesday closed a criminal investigation into mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group for armed mutiny after President Vladimir Putin pledged to respect a deal ending the biggest threat to his 24-year-rule.
(Bloomberg) — Russia on Tuesday closed a criminal investigation into mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group for armed mutiny after President Vladimir Putin pledged to respect a deal ending the biggest threat to his 24-year-rule.
“The criminal case initiated on the fact of an armed rebellion by PMC Wagner has been closed,” the Federal Security Service announced, according to the Interfax news service. The rebels stopped actions “aimed at committing a crime,” it said.
Preparations have begun to transfer heavy weaponry from Wagner group to units of the Russian army, Defense Ministry said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
The announcements came amid a report that Prigozhin’s private jet had landed in Belarus, after President Alexander Lukashenko offered to take in the Wagner founder and his fighters as part of the agreement to end Saturday’s rebellion.
“I won’t hide it from you. It was very painful to see the events that happened in southern Russia,” Lukashenko said Tuesday at a televised meeting in Minsk.
Putin had offered to close the case and let Wagner fighters and Prigozhin go to Belarus as part of a deal brokered by Lukashenko. Late Monday, he said in an address to the nation: “The promise I made will be fulfilled.”
The rapid chain of events has left the US, Europe and China puzzling over the political fallout from a rebellion that shattered Putin’s invincible image as Russia’s leader. The 24-hour crisis highlighted bitter divisions within Russia over the faltering war in Ukraine that’s the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II, as a Ukrainian counteroffensive continues to try to push Putin’s forces out of occupied territories.
Prigozhin’s heavily-armed troops first took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, and then rapidly moved toward Moscow virtually unopposed, reaching 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Moscow late Saturday before turning back.
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