Victor EzejaYevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Mercenary group, Wagner, has announced the withdrawal of his troops after launching an armed mutiny against the country’s military leaders.
According to a report in The Telegraph, Wagner’s troops were already advancing to Moscow and were less than 130 miles from the capital city when Prigozhin announced he had halted them.
“We are turning our columns around and going back to field camps,” Prigozhin said, adding that he understood the importance of the moment and did not want to “spill Russian blood.”
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The mercenary group had announced that it had seized “all military facilities” in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Prigozhin said his aim is “not a military coup but a march for justice.”
According to Reuters, around 5,000 Wagner soldiers were also marching on the capital.
Russian state forces reportedly fired on Wagner vehicles but were unable to slow their advance from the southern cities of Voronezh and Rostov.
This is a case of an ally turned rebel as the Wagner Group is a private army of mercenaries that has been fighting alongside the regular Russian army in Ukraine.
The mercenary group is said to have played a major role in the fight to take the city of Bakhmut from Ukrainian forces.
President Vladimir Putin has accused Prigozhin of treason and vowed to punish the rebels.
Putin described the coup which is the first attempt in three decades as a “deadly threat” to the country and compared it with the 1917 revolution that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The upset has led to tighter security measures across the country.
There are speculations that the crisis might affect Russia in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar said the uprising in Russia was a “window of opportunity” for its forces to push ahead with a counteroffensive to liberate territory occupied by Russian troops.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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