By The Associated Press
The head of the non-public Russian army drive Wagner stated Saturday he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their area camps in Ukraine to keep away from shedding Russian blood.
The announcement from Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to defuse a dramatically escalating disaster that represented essentially the most important problem to President Vladimir Putin’s management in his greater than twenty years in energy.
Moscow had braced for the arrival of a non-public military led by the rebellious mercenary commander by erecting checkpoints with armored autos and troops on its southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to remain off some roads.
Prigozhin stated that whereas his males had been simply 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he determined to show them again to keep away from “shedding Russian blood.”
He didn’t say whether or not Moscow has responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There was no instant remark from the Kremlin.
The announcement adopted a press release from the workplace of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko saying that he had negotiated a take care of Prigozhin after discussing the problem with Putin. Prigozhin agreed to halt the advance in a proposed settlement that comprises safety ensures for Wagner troops, Lukashenko’s workplace stated. It didn’t elaborate.
Putin had vowed harsh penalties for organizers of the armed rebellion led by his onetime protege, who introduced his forces out of Ukraine, seized a key army facility in southern Russia and superior towards Moscow.
In a televised speech to the nation, Putin known as the rebel a “betrayal” and “treason.”
“All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin stated. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”
Authorities declared a “counterterrorist regime” within the capital and its surrounding area, enhancing safety and proscribing some motion.
On the southern outskirts, troops erected checkpoints, organized sandbags and arrange machine weapons.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin warned that visitors may very well be restricted in components of the capital and declared Monday a non-working day for many residents.
Crews dug up sections of highways to gradual the march of the Wagner mercenary military. Access to Red Square was closed, two main museums had been evacuated and a park was shut.
Prigozhin’s non-public military appeared to manage the army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a metropolis 660 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) south of Moscow that runs Russian operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense stated.
Wagner troops and tools additionally had been in Lipetsk province, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of Moscow, the place authorities “are taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of the population,” stated regional Gov. Igor Artamonov, by way of Telegram. He didn’t elaborate.
The dramatic developments got here precisely 16 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s largest battle since World War II, which has killed tens of 1000’s, displaced hundreds of thousands and diminished cities to rubble.
Ukrainians hoped the Russian infighting would create alternatives for its military to take again territory seized by Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Moscow was struggling “full-scale weakness” and that Kyiv was defending Europe from “the spread of Russian evil and chaos.”
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, known as for Prigozhin’s arrest Friday night time after he declared the armed rebel.
Prigozhin stated earlier Saturday that his fighters wouldn’t give up, 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 stated in an audio message on his Telegram channel.
Prigozhin’s non-public military has been combating alongside common Russian troops in Ukraine. His targets weren’t instantly clear, however the rebel marks an escalation in his wrestle with Russian army leaders, whom he accused of botching the conflict in Ukraine and hobbling his forces within the area.
“This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin stated.
Prigozhin stated he had 25,000 troops beneath his command and urged the military to not provide resistance.
He posted video of himself on the army headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and claimed his forces had taken management of the airfield and different army services within the metropolis. Other movies on social media confirmed army autos, together with tanks, on the streets.
“We didn’t kill a single person on our way,” Prigozhin stated in one in every of his a number of messages posted because the day went on, including that his forces seized the army headquarters “without a single gunshot.” His claims couldn’t be independently verified. The Russian authorities haven’t reported any casualties up to now, both.
The rebel got here as Russia is “fighting the toughest battle for its future,” Putin stated, 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 stated.
A Muscovite who gave solely his first identify of Khachik known as the scenario “scary.” Another man who didn’t need to be recognized in any respect denounced Prigozhin’s transfer as a betrayal and stated he helps the Defense Ministry.
State-controlled TV networks led their newscasts with Putin’s assertion and reported the tense scenario in Rostov-on-Don. Some confirmed social media movies of residents denouncing Wagner troops.
Broadcasters additionally carried statements from prime officers and lawmakers voicing assist for Putin and condemning Prigozhin.
In saying the rebel, Prigozhin stated he wished to punish Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu after he accused Russian authorities forces of attacking Wagner area camps in Ukraine with rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery. He claimed that “a huge number of our comrades got killed.”
Prigozhin stated his forces shot down a Russian army helicopter that fired on a civilian convoy, however there was no impartial affirmation.
He alleged that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, ordered the assaults following a gathering with Shoigu, the place they determined to destroy the army contractor.
The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps.
The 62-year-old Prigozhin, a former convict, has lengthy ties to the Russian chief and received profitable Kremlin catering contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef.”
He gained consideration within the U.S. when he and a dozen different Russian nationals had been charged with working a covert social media marketing campaign aimed toward fomenting discord forward of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory. He shaped the Wagner mercenary group, which despatched army contractors to Libya, Syria, a number of African international locations and ultimately Ukraine.
After Putin’s handle, during which he known as for unity, officers sought to reiterate their allegiance to the Kremlin and urged Prigozhin to again down.
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the decrease home of parliament, stated lawmakers “stand for the consolidation of forces″ and assist Putin.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova echoed that, saying in a Telegram submit that “we now have one commander in chief. Not two, not three. One.″
Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman chief of the Chechnya area who used to facet with Prigozhin in his criticism of the army, additionally expressed his full assist of Putin’s “every word.”
“The mutiny needs to be suppressed,” Kadyrov stated.
While the result of the confrontation was nonetheless unclear, it appeared prone to additional hinder Moscow’s conflict effort as Kyiv’s forces probed Russian defenses within the preliminary phases of a counteroffensive.
Wagner forces have performed an important function, capturing the jap metropolis of Bakhmut, an space the place the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. But Prigozhin has more and more criticized the army brass, accusing it of incompetence and of ravenous his troops of munitions.
Zelenskyy famous the rebel in his Telegram channel and stated “anyone 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. And now there is so much chaos that no lie can hide it,” he stated.
Prigozhin’s actions may have important implications for the conflict. Orysia Lutsevych, the top of the Ukraine Forum on the Chatham House assume tank in London, stated the infighting will create confusion and potential division amongst Russian army 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, stated Prigozhin’s intentions towards Ukraine is perhaps worse than Putin’s, however that the infighting would nonetheless profit the nation.
Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates again years, had refused to adjust to a requirement that his forces signal contracts with the ministry earlier than July 1. He stated Friday he was prepared for a compromise however “they have treacherously cheated us.”
In Washington, the Institute for the Study of War stated “the violent overthrow of Putin loyalists like Shoigu and Gerasimov would cause irreparable damage to the stability of Putin’s perceived hold on power.”
Western international locations monitored developments intently. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke together with his counterparts within the different G7 international locations and the European Union’s overseas affairs consultant, his spokesman stated, including that Blinken “reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change.”
Latvia and Estonia, two NATO international locations that border Russia, stated they had been rising safety at their borders.
The Kremlin stated Putin spoke by cellphone with the leaders of Turkey, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in regards to the occasions.
Although there was hypothesis that Putin had left Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied it.
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Associated Press author Danica Kirka in London contributed.
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Follow AP protection of the conflict in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine-war
Source: www.bostonherald.com”