After seizing control of Rostov-on-Don, a significant Russian city, on June 24, Prigozhin ordered his troops to stop moving toward Moscow to avoid “shedding Russian blood.” The attempted coup was a result of months of tension between Prigozhin and the Russian defense ministry’s top brass.
Security experts from the UK suggest that the Kremlin is waging a covert campaign to thwart one of the biggest threats to President Vladimir Putin‘s decades-long leadership.
The Moscow Exchange
Only 8,000 fighters were available to the mercenary, making any attempt to seize the Russian capital certain to fail. Putin will reportedly now attempt to integrate the hired assailants into the Russian military and remove its former commanders.
The Kremlin declared on Saturday that Prigozhin would be banished to Belarus in return for a treason charge’s dismissal.
- Prigozhin orders troops to stop Moscow after seizing Rostov-on-Don.
- Russian mercenary forces face failure; Putin seeks integration.
- Russia removes emergency restrictions, and motorway barriers, and maintains normal operations.
To put an end to Prigozhin’s uprising, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko mediated a settlement, and Putin hasn’t been spotted in public since.
The Kremlin pledged to permit the Wagner leader to visit Belarus and to dismiss all mutiny-related criminal charges against him and other rebel soldiers.
To reestablish a sense of normalcy, Russia has been removing emergency restrictions and has also taken down hastily erected barriers on the motorways going into Moscow. The Moscow Exchange will continue to operate as usual.
The most recent act of aggression is a blatant illustration of the internal strife brought on by the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s inability to fully sustain its forces.
