The head of the Wagner force said Saturday he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their field camps in Ukraine to avoid shedding Russian blood.
The announcement from Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to defuse a growing crisis. Moscow had braced for the arrival of the private army led by the rebellious commander. And President Vladimir Putin had vowed he would face harsh consequences.
Prigozhin said that while his men are just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid “shedding Russian blood.”
He didn’t say whether the Kremlin has responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.
The announcement follows a statement from the office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko saying that he had negotiated a deal with Prigozhin after previously discussing the issue with Putin.
Prigozhin has accepted Lukashenko’s offer to halt the Wagner group’s advance and further steps to de-escalate the tensions, Lukashenko’s office said, adding that the proposed settlement contains security guarantees for Wagner troops. It didn’t elaborate.
Moscow on Saturday erected checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on its southern edge, Red Square was shut down and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads as the Russian capital braced for the arrival of a private army led by a rebellious mercenary commander.
Putin denounced the uprising as “a stab in the back” in an address to the nation. It was the biggest threat to his leadership in over two decades in power.
As Prigozhin’s forces rolled toward the capital, military trucks and armored vehicles were seen in several parts of Moscow. On its southern edge, troops erected checkpoints, arranged sandbags and put up machine guns.
The governor of the region surrounding Russia’s capital has suspended mass public events outdoors and at educational institutions until July 1.
Gov. Andrei Vorobyov issued a decree with the bans on Saturday as the chief of private Russian military company Wagner said his mercenaries were heading to Moscow in an armed rebellion against Russia’s defense minister.
The governor’s decree doesn’t apply to the city itself but the surrounding areas. However, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin warned that traffic could be restricted in parts of the capital as part of the counter-terrorism operation prompted by the rebellion.
The counter-terrorism operation allows authorities to tighten security, impose curbs on traffic and communications, and to conduct searches without warrants. There was no immediate word of whether a curfew would be posed.
Meanwhile, Moscow’s mayor warned Saturday that traffic could be restricted in parts of Russia’s capital as part of heightened security prompted by the rebellion of mercenaries with private military company Wagner.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin asked the city’s residents to refrain from using their cars amid the counter-terrorism operation in Moscow and the surrounding region that authorities introduced earlier Saturday. He also declared Monday a non-working day for most people, with the exception of public servants and employees of some industrial enterprises.
Sobyanin noted that all key city services were put on high readiness and advised residents to report any emergencies.
Crews also dug up parts of highways in an apparent bid to slow the march of the Wagner mercenary army. Access to Red Square was closed, two major museums were evacuated and a park was shut.
Prigozhin’s private army appeared to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city 660 miles south of Moscow that runs Russian operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.
Wagner troops and equipment also were in Lipetsk province, about 225 miles south of Moscow, where authorities “are taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population,” said regional Gov. Igor Artamonov, via Telegram. He did not elaborate.
The dramatic developments came exactly 16 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s largest conflict since World War II, that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble.
Ukrainians hoped the Russian infighting would create opportunities for its army to take back territory seized by Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow is suffering “full-scale weakness” and that Kyiv was protecting Europe from “the spread of Russian evil and chaos.”
In his speech, Putin called the actions by Prigozhin, whom he did not mention by name, a “betrayal” and “treason.”
“All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin said. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”
Russia’s security services, including the Federal Security Service, or FSB, called for Prigozhin’s arrest Friday night after he declared the armed rebellion.
Prigozhin said his fighters would not surrender, as “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”
“Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland,” he said in an audio message on his Telegram channel.
Prigozhin’s private army has been fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine. His goals weren’t immediately clear, but the rebellion marks an escalation in his struggle with Russian military leaders, whom he accused of botching the war in Ukraine and hobbling his forces in the field.
“This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin said.
Prigozhin said he had 25,000 troops under his command and urged the army not to offer resistance.
He posted video of himself at the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and claimed his forces had taken control of the airfield and other military facilities in the city. Other videos on social media showed military vehicles, including tanks, on the streets.
“We didn’t kill a single person on our way,” Prigozhin said in one of his several messages posted as the day went on, adding that his forces seized the military headquarters “without a single gunshot.” His claims could not be independently verified. The Russian authorities haven’t reported any casualties so far, either.
The rebellion comes as Russia is “fighting the toughest battle for its future,” Putin said, with the West piling sanctions on Moscow and arming Ukraine.
“The entire military, economic and information machine of the West is waged against us,” Putin said.
State-controlled TV networks led their newscasts with Putin’s statement and reported the tense situation in Rostov-on-Don. Some showed social media videos of residents denouncing Wagner troops.
Broadcasters also carried statements from top officials and lawmakers voicing support for Putin and condemning Prigozhin.
In announcing the rebellion, Prigozhin said he wanted to punish Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu after he accused Russian government forces of attacking Wagner field camps in Ukraine with rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery. He claimed that “a huge number of our comrades got killed.”
Prigozhin said his forces shot down a Russian military helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, but there was no independent confirmation of that.
He alleged that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, ordered the attacks following a meeting with Shoigu, where they decided to destroy Wagner.
The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps.
The 62-year-old Prigozhin, a former convict, has long ties to the Russian leader and won lucrative Kremlin catering contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef.”
He gained attention in the U.S. when he and a dozen other Russian nationals were charged with operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord ahead of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory. He formed the Wagner mercenary group, which sent military contractors to Libya, Syria, several African countries and eventually Ukraine.
After Putin’s address, in which he called for unity, officials sought to reiterate their allegiance to the Kremlin and urged Prigozhin to back down.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy: ‘Everyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself
While the outcome of the confrontation was still unclear, it appeared likely to further hinder Moscow’s war effort as Kyiv’s forces probed Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive.
Wagner forces have played a crucial role, capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, an area where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized the military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of munitions.
Zelenskyy noted the rebellion in a Twitter post, writing: “everyone who chooses the path of evil destroys himself.”
“For a long time, Russia used propaganda to mask its weakness and the stupidity of its government,” the Ukrainian leader wrote. “And now there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it.”
“Russia’s weakness is obvious,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Full-scale weakness. And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain, and problems it will have for itself later. It is also obvious. Ukraine is able to protect Europe from the spread of Russian evil and chaos.”
Prigozhin’s actions could have significant implications for the war. Orysia Lutsevych, the head of the Ukraine Forum at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the infighting will create confusion and potential division among Russian military forces.
“Russian troops in Ukraine may well now be operating in a vacuum, without clear military instructions, and doubts about whom to obey and follow,” Lutsevych said. “This creates a unique and unprecedented military opportunity for the Ukrainian army.”
Ukrainian soldier Andrii Kvasnytsia, attending a funeral for a comrade, said Prigozhin’s intentions toward Ukraine might be worse than Putin’s, but that the infighting would still benefit the country.
Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates back years, had refused to comply with a requirement that his forces sign contracts with the ministry before July 1. He said Friday he was ready for a compromise but “they have treacherously cheated us.”
In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War said “the violent overthrow of Putin loyalists like Shoigu and Gerasimov would cause irreparable damage to the stability of Putin’s perceived hold on power.”
Biden, Harris briefed on Russia; president speaks to French, German, British leaders
Western countries monitored developments closely.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by their national security team on Saturday morning about the latest developments in Russia, the White House said. Among the top-level officials in the briefing were Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the country’s top diplomat, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns. The White House says both leaders will “continue to be briefed throughout the day.”
Earlier in the day, Biden spoke to a trio of key European allies: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The leaders discussed the situation in Russia while pledging unwavering support for Ukraine, per the White House.
Secretary of State Blinken spoke with his counterparts in the other G7 countries and the European Union’s foreign affairs representative, his spokesman said, adding that Blinken “reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change.”
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry has warned the West against trying to take advantage of the rebellion led by Prigozhin, saying in a statement Saturday that “we are cautioning Western countries against even a hint of using the internal situation in Russia for achieving their Russophobic goals.”
Latvia and Estonia, two NATO countries that border Russia, said they were increasing security at their borders.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin spoke on the phone with the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and “informed his counterparts of the situation.”
Putin also spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A Kremlin statement said the Russian leader informed Erdogan “about the situation in the country related to an attempted armed rebellion,” and the Turkish president “expressed full support for the steps of the Russian leadership.”
Although there was speculation that Putin had left Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied it.
Kremlin warns successful rebellion could put world ‘on the brink of destruction’
A senior Kremlin official has warned that a successful rebellion by the Wagner group would mean the mercenaries getting hold of Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal and raise an existential threat to the entire world.
“The history of mankind hasn’t yet seen the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons under control by bandits,” Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “Such a crisis will not be limited by just one country’s borders, the world will be put on the brink of destruction.”
He added that “we won’t allow such a turn of events.”
Medvedev has frequently used hardline rhetoric since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, regularly reminding the West about Russia’s nuclear arsenal in a bid to discourage the U.S. and its allies from ramping up weapons supplies to Kyiv.
Medvedev described the rebellion as a “well-planned operation aimed at seizing power in the country.” He claimed that some veterans of elite Russian military units and foreign actors could have been involved in it.
