Mutinous Russian fighters turn back to avoid bloodshed

Mutinous Russian mercenaries who surged most of the way to Moscow have agreed to turn back to avoid bloodshed, their leader said on Saturday, in a de-escalation of what had become a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

The fighters of the Wagner private army were just 200 kilometres from the capital, said the leader, former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin. The rebels had captured the city of Rostov hundreds of miles to the south before racing across the country.

“They wanted to disband the Wagner military company. We embarked on a march of justice on June 23. In 24 hours we got to within 200km of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters’ blood,” Prigozhin said in an audio message.

“Now the moment has come when blood could be spilled. Understanding … that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned.” 

The decision to halt further movement across Russia by the Wagner group was brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in return for guarantees for their safety, his office said. There was no immediate word on the deal from Putin.

Earlier, Prigozhin said his men were on a “march for justice” to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.

In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin said Russia’s very existence was under threat.

Facing the first serious challenge to his grip on power of his 23-year rule, President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush an armed mutiny he compared to Russia’s Civil War a century ago.

The dramatic turn, with many details unclear, looked like the biggest domestic crisis Putin has faced since he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine — something he called a “special military operation” — in February last year. 

“We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history,” he said.

Putin said that “excessive ambitions and vested interests have led to treason”, and called the mutiny a “stab in the back”.

“This is a stab in a back to our country, to our nation,” Putin said to the nation. “What we have been faced with is exactly betrayal.

“It is a blow to Russia, to our people. And our actions to defend the Fatherland against such a threat will be harsh.

“All those who deliberately stepped on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed insurrection, who took the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment, will answer both to the law and to our people.”

He acknowledged a “difficult” situation was unfolding in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, where the Wagner mercenary group has taken control of key military sites in an effort to oust the Russian military’s top brass.

“There will be decisive measures taken on stabilising the situation in Rostov-on-Don,” Putin said in an address to Russians. “It remains difficult and the work of civil and military authorities in fact is being blocked.”

A defiant Prigozhin swiftly replied that he and his men had no intention of turning themselves in.