Wagner Group Chief Drops Rebellion to Avoid Bloodshed

The head of the group of Russian mercenaries WagnerYevgeny Prigozhin, who was leading an armed rebellion against the military leadership russianannounced this Saturday that its combatants will return to their bases after approaching 200 kilometers from Moscowto avoid bloodshed.

“The time has come when blood can be shed. Therefore, realizing full responsibility for spilling Russian blood on one side, our columns turn around and return to our bases according to plan.”he stated in an audio message on his Telegram channel.

Prigozhin claimed that the Russian military elites, against whom he rebelled, “they wanted to disintegrate Wagner” and explained that for this reason he announced the “March for Justice” during which, in 24 hours, it advanced to within 200 kilometers of Moscow after taking the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

“During this time we did not shed a drop of blood from our combatants”he said, acknowledging that this could have changed.

The head of the Wagner Group made this announcement after the press service of the President of Belarus, Alexandr Lukashneko, stated that the president had mediated between Moscow and Prigozhin, with the permission of the Russian head of state, Vladimir Putin.

“Yevgueni Prigozhin accepted the proposal of the Belarusian president on the advance of Wagner’s troops on Russian territory and future steps to reduce tensions”, assured the Belarusian Presidency on Telegram and also collected the official agency, BELTA.

According to Minsk, Putin “informed his Belarusian counterpart about the situation in the south of Russia in the morning,” in reference to the occupation by the Rostov mercenaries.

“The heads of states agreed on joint actions. Pursuant to the agreements, the President of Belarus, after verifying the situation through his own channels, entered into talks with Wagner’s boss (…)”.

The Belarusian Presidency indicated that “The talks went on all day.”

“In the end, an agreement was reached regarding the inadmissibility of unleashing a bloody massacre on Russian territory,” said the press service of Lukashenko, Putin’s main ally in his military campaign in Ukraine.

Minsk noted that an option is currently on the table “absolutely beneficial and acceptable to solve the situation, with security guarantees for Wagner’s fighters.”

Source: EFE