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Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that he is turning his convoys around amid negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"They were going to dismantle PMC Wagner. We came out on 23 June to the March of Justice. In a day, we walked to nearly 200km away from Moscow. In this time, we did not spill a single drop of blood of our fighters. Now, the moment has come when blood may spill. That's why, understanding the responsibility for spilling Russian blood on one of the sides, we are turning back our convoys and going back to field camps according to the plan," Prigozhin said in a voice memo posted to his Telegram account.
Wagner Group, one of the preeminent private military companies in Russia, was in the midst of an armed conflict against the Russian government, claiming to have taken control of military sites in at least one city, Rostov-on-Don. Prigozhin declared war against the Russian Ministry of Defense on Friday after the Russian military allegedly carried out an attack against and killed some of his Wagner troops who were stationed in Ukraine.
Prigozhin says it's over:
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) June 24, 2023
"They were going to dismantle PMC Wagner. We came out on 23 June to the March of Justice. In a day, we walked to nearly 200km away from Moscow. In this time, we did not spill a single drop of blood of our fighters. Now, the moment has come when blood…
Lukashenko's press service also reported that Prigozhin accepted a proposal to stop the Wagner's advancement inside Russia and to take further steps toward de-escalation. According to the Belarusian president, there is currently a draft to resolve the situation with the Wagner Group, which includes security guarantees for its fighters.
Reached for comment, the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., also provided Newsweek with the latest news reports.
After news of the reported truce hit social media, the terms of the deal have since been revealed. According to Russia Today (RT), Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that criminal charges against Prigozhin will be dropped and other Wagner soldiers will not be prosecuted for their participation. Prigozhin has also agreed to move to Belarus.
On Saturday afternoon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted to the new development and tweeted, "Today, the world saw that the bosses of Russia do not control anything. Nothing at all. Complete chaos. Complete absence of any predictability..."
He continued: "Ukraine will definitely be able to protect Europe from any Russian forces, and it doesn't matter who commands them. We will protect. The security of Europe's eastern flank depends only on our defense."
Speaking about the negotiations between Lukashenko and Prigozhin, Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, wrote on Twitter, "Putin could not control a mercenary force that he created & run by his buddy. He had to rely on Lukashenko of all people to cut a deal with a guy he called just hours ago a traitor. These are signs of real weakness, not strength."
Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, agreed with McFaul's comments in his own tweet and wrote, "This post by @McFaul is exactly correct. And more of the Russian people have now seen the truth: there was no justification for Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine, and the war is definitely not going well for Russia."
Newsweek has reached out to a military expert via email for comment on the reported truce.
This post by @McFaul is exactly correct.
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 24, 2023
And more of the Russian people have now seen the truth: there was no justification for Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and the war is definitely not going well for Russia. https://t.co/FFnn1BTrxh
Meanwhile, former Russian army commander and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Igor Girkin wrote on Telegram on Saturday: "I have to admit with bitterness that the Russian Federation is one step closer to its final and irrevocable death."
He continued: "From today, there are two presidents in the Russian Federation - the real president Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin and the zits-president for imprisonment Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The main purpose of the zits-president is to periodically address the real president, and in a kneeling posture, with the question: "What do you want, Yevgeny Viktorovich? Never, even in the most nightmarish dream, could I imagine that I would see this shame and the death of my country."
Update 6/24/2023, 4:40 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to reflect the terms of the deal between Putin and Prigozhin.
Update 6/24/2023, 2:57 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
About the writer
Anna Commander is a Newsweek Editor and writer based in Florida. Her focus is reporting on crime, weather and breaking ... Read more