The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhininterrupted his march to Moscow on Saturday (24) after realizing he had gone “too far” and after Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to speak with him, according to a reconstruction of events published by the Russian portal independent meduza.
At noon on Saturday, Prigozhin tried to get in touch with the Kremlin and even “tried to call Putin, but the president didn’t want to talk to him,” according to anonymous sources close to the Russian government quoted by the news portal based in Riga, capital of Latvia.
The leader of the mercenary group realized that he “had gone too far” and that the prospects that his column – which was already approaching the first line of defense of the Russian regular forces and the National Guard – could continue to advance were slim.
When the Kremlin realized that Prigozhin was aware of the delicacy of his situation, a second round of negotiations took place to avoid a “bloody confrontation”. Negotiations took place after some first contacts were attempted on Friday night (23), shortly after the head of Wagner announced his insurrection.
According to information from meduzaBelarusian dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Putin’s chief of staff Anton Vaino took part in the talks on Saturday.
“Prigozhin needed a trusted third party to have a way out and save his skin,” the Meduza source said, noting that Lukashenko had offered to benefit from the role of being the one to “save Russia from bloodshed or worse.” even a potential civil war”.
The fate of Wagner’s boss – whose current whereabouts are unknown – is still uncertain, but according to sources at the meduza he was “expelled” from Russia and Putin “will not forgive” the insurrection declared last Friday night.
According to the independent Russian portal, there is a possibility that after the event there will be changes in the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Russian defense chief Serguei Choigu was the main target of Prigozhin’s criticism.
However, if they are confirmed, according to the sources, it will be due more to “internal problems within the Ministry” than the result of a possible agreement with the leader of the mercenary company, since “Putin almost never gives in to pressure”.
Prigozhin announced an uprising against the Russian military command late on Friday after one of Wagner’s bases in eastern Ukraine was allegedly bombed by Moscow, something the Kremlin has denied.
The column of mercenary forces took the city of Rostov-on-Don and advanced towards the Russian capital throughout Saturday, but when it was about 200 kilometers from Moscow, Prigozhin announced the withdrawal to “avoid bloodshed”.
#Prigozhin #recoiled #realized