Heavily armed Russian mercenaries withdrew from the southern Russian city of Rostov overnight under a deal that defused an unprecedented challenge to the authority of President Vladimir Putin and halted their rapid advance on Moscow.
Fighters of the Wagner group returned to their bases in return for guarantees for their safety and the leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, will move to Belarus, according to the agreement mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
However, the aborted mutiny raises big questions about Putin’s grip on a country he has ruled with an iron hand for more than two decades. Italy’s foreign minister said it had shattered the “myth” of Russian unity.
Prigozhin, 62, a former Putin ally whose forces have fought the bloodiest battles of the 16-month war in Ukraine, said his decision to advance on Moscow was intended to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war.
He was seen leaving the district military headquar-ters in Rostov — hundreds of miles south of Mos-cow — late on Saturday in a sport utility vehicle. His whereabouts on Sunday were not immediately clear.
The show of support for Wagner’s short-lived insurrection will alarm the authorities in a country which has become increasingly intolerant of any public criticism of Putin and his rule.
Moscow was calm on Sunday, with the Red Square closed but otherwise little evidence of increased security in the streets. Monday has been declared a non-working day to allow time for things to settle.
The capital had told residents to stay indoors and deployed soldiers in preparation for the arrival of the mercenaries, who appeared to meet little pushback from the regular armed forces.
Chechen special forces who deployed to the Rostov region to resist the mercenaries’ advance were also withdrawing back to where they had been fighting in Ukraine, commander Apty Alaudinov said in a video published on Telegram.
After capturing Rostov — the main rear logistical hub for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the merce-naries had raced hundreds of miles north in what Prigozhin called a “march for justice”, transporting tanks and armoured trucks and smashing through barricades set up to stop them, before the deal to withdraw was reached.—AFP
