Russia: Prigozhin Will Be Living in Belarus Now

Charges will be dropped against Wagner chief, Kremlin says, 'to avoid bloodshed'
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2023 5:20 PM CDT
Russia: Agreement Includes Wagner Boss Moving to Belarus
Wagner Group fighters sit in their military vehicles Saturday night as they prepare to leave Rostov-on-Don, Russia.   (AP Photo)

Criminal charges against the leader of the brief rebellion against the Russia government will be dropped, a Kremlin spokesman said late Saturday. As for the fate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, "He himself will go to Belarus," Dmitri Peskov told reporters in a conference call, CNN reports. President Vladimir Putin has guaranteed Prigozhin's safety, Peskov said, per Reuters. The spokesman said he didn't know what Prigozhin will do in Belarus. Russian officials began outlining the terms of the deal in which the head of the Wagner Group agreed to stop his private army's advance toward Moscow, apparently ending the threat to Putin's rule.

Wagner troops who participated in the rebellion won't face charges, either, in recognition of their "service at the front" in Ukraine, Peskov said. Fighters who did not join Prigozhin's advance are welcome to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense, per the New York Times. Russian media reported that Prigozhin left Rostov-on-Don, a city his forces had occupied, after he ended his operation. Photos and videos showed him being driven away, as people in the crowd appeared to cheer him, per the Washington Post.

Just hours before the charges against Prigozhin were dropped, Putin had threatened in an address to Russians to punish those behind the uprising. Peskov told reporters that Putin nevertheless made the concessions to Prigozhin "to avoid bloodshed, to avoid internal confrontation, to avoid clashes with unpredictable results." The spokesman would not say whether one of the concessions was the removal of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, which Prigozhin had demanded. (More Russia rebellion stories.)

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