Russia coup: Wagner group leader Prigozhin says ‘We are turning back’ after Lukashenko plays mediator

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a halt to apparent mutiny, after Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s regime claimed to have brokered talks between the warlord and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“In this time, we did not spill a single drop of blood of our fighters,” Prigozhin announced on social media. “Now, the moment has come when blood may spill. That’s why, understanding the responsibility for spilling Russian blood on one of the sides, we are turning back our convoys and going back to field camps according to the plan.”

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That statement points to an abrupt end to a frenzy that appeared to present Putin with the most dramatic challenge to his authority since he rose to power in 1999. One day after declaring a “march for justice” to take revenge on Russian defense officials who have mismanaged the war and allegedly attacked Wagner Group forces, Prigozhin implied that the uproar was an attempt to preserve his organization.

“They were going to dismantle PMC Wagner,” Prigozhin said, per a War Translated rendering of his remarks. “In a day, we walked to nearly 200km away from Moscow.”

The announcement could drop the curtain once again on the oft-mysterious struggle that organizes the various power centers in Putin’s Russia.

“Much will depend on the next 24 hours and whether [Prigozhin] has gathered enough support not to be crushed quickly,” a senior European official told the Washington Examiner earlier Saturday. “I think that everyone understands that Putin has made a catastrophic mistake with [the war in Ukraine]. What to do now for the best is not obvious. There are many groupings with specific interests. The question is how they will deal with each other without weakening their positions relative to the outcome.”

Lukashenko, a Putin client, took credit for the apparent breakthrough, as the Belarusian regime announced that he had spoken to Putin and Prigozhin and arranged “an absolutely profitable” deal to end the crisis.

“Negotiations continued throughout the day. As a result, they came to agreements on the inadmissibility of unleashing a bloody massacre on the territory of Russia,” Lukashenko’s press service announced, per a Ukrainian Pravda translation. “At the moment, there is an absolutely profitable and acceptable option on the table for resolving the situation, with security guarantees for Wagner PMC fighters.”

The boast was met with skepticism abroad.

“Lukashenko is no one — he can not offer anything and he can not protect anyone against [Putin],” a second senior European official told the Washington Examiner. “If it is played out like that, then this is theater. If Prigozhin will live, it is theater.”

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A senior Ukrainian official highlighted an unofficial summary of the alleged deal circulating on a purported Wagner-aligned social media channel that suggests Putin has agreed to fire Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

“Now it’s finally allowed to say the three things he’s been promised. 1. Shoigu’s resignation. 2. Amnesty for ‘musicians’ [Wagner mercenaries], 3. The possibility to return to Africa,” the account says. “I’m sure that in reality he signed his own death sentence. And Wagner PMC as well, of course.”