WAGNER HEAD PRIGOZHIN SAYS MARCH ON MOSCOW HALTED TO AVOID “SHEDDING RUSSIAN BLOOD”

Sat 24 June 2023:

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says he ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow to avoid “shedding Russian blood”.

Prigozhin said while his men are just 200km (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided on Saturday to turn them back to prevent killings.

“We are turning our columns around and going back to field camps,” he said.

The comments by Prigozhin in an audio message came after Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko said he negotiated with the mercenary boss to stop Wagner’s troop movement.

The office of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko announced that Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin accepted a proposal to “stop the movement of armed persons of the Wagner company on the territory of Russia and take further steps to de-escalate tensions,” the president’s office said, with similar reporting in Russian news outlets.

The statement said that Vladimir Putin briefed Lukashenko in the morning and, with his approval, Lukashenko held negotiating talks with Prigozhin.

“Negotiations continued throughout the day. As a result, they came to agreements on the inadmissibility of unleashing a bloody massacre on the territory of Russia,” the statement read.

Prigozhin did not say whether the Kremlin responded to his demand to oust Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.

AP confirms Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin is halting his mercenaries moments after Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko said he brokered a de-escalation deal. In an audio message, Prigozhin said that he is stopping his troops to avoid “Russian bloodshed”.

President Vladimir Putin faced the biggest threat to his rule yet with rebel mercenaries advancing towards the Russian capital after seizing a key military base.

Masters of Russia control nothing

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday the revolt by Wagner troops exposed complete chaos in the country.

“Today the world can see that the masters of Russia control nothing. And that means nothing. Simply complete chaos. An absence of any predictability,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Addressing Putin while switching from Ukrainian into Russian language, Zelenskyy said: “The longer your troops remain on Ukrainian land, the greater the devastation they will bring to Russia.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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