Wagner head says group standing down after claims of deal

Reports by CNN

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin will go to Belarus and criminal charges against him will be dropped in a deal to end his insurrection, Moscow said. The announcement caps a frenetic 36 hours in Russia but much remains uncertain.

Prigozhin said he was turning his forces around from a march toward Moscow shortly after the Belarusian government said it had reached a deal with him to halt the advance.

Only hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had vowed to punish those behind the “armed uprising” after Wagner claimed control of military facilities in two Russian cities. Prigozhin had accused Russia’s military leadership of striking a Wagner camp on Friday.

In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Putin is “very afraid” following Wagner’s actions, while a defense official said Ukrainian forces launched simultaneous counteroffensives in multiple directions.

Prigozhin and Wagner Group forces seen leaving Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don

Wagner private military company boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has left Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don in southwestern Russia, new video shows.

The video, posted to Telegram, and geolocated and authenticated by CNN, shows Prigozhin sitting in the backseat of a vehicle. Crowds cheer and the vehicle comes to a stop as an individual approaches it and shakes Prigozhin’s hand.

He is heard saying “All the best” to the people gathered before the vehicle drives off.

Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed eyewitness that said Prigozhin left the headquarters “with the fighters.”

It’s the first time Prigozhin has been seen in public since he announced that his troops would “turn back” from Moscow and return to “field camps.” It is unclear where Prigozhin is currently en route to, but per the apparent deal, he is expected to be sent to Belarus and not face any criminal charges.

The video follows other clips posted to Telegram, also geolocated and authenticated by CNN, that show Wagner forces withdrawing from their positions at the military headquarters, crowds surrounding a Wagner vehicle convoy and people cheering the forces after it was announced they would turn back.

Before the Wagner forces were seen leaving, video from Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti showed a Russian military police vehicle arriving at the military headquarters.

Prigozhin was never real threat to Putin, former Russian parliament member says

Former Russian member of Parliament Sergey Markov described Wagner private military company boss Yevgeny Prigozhin as “extremely aggressive” but said he was never a threat to Putin.

“They support Prigozhin fighting against Ukrainian army but not against Vladimir Putin,” Markov told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour late Saturday local time, citing Putin’s popularity now being at “about 80%.”

Markov said that it was “really good news” that Prigozhin had ordered Wagner mercenary columns to turn back from an advance toward Moscow, adding that “a lot of Moscow are happy about this.”

Markov told Amanpour that he had been expecting a deal like the one allegedly negotiated by Belarusian President Lukashenko to happen, as both Russian sides in the conflict were “in a deadlock.”

“That’s why a lot of Russian militarists see Wagner fighters not as enemies but as real heroes because they don’t want to take part in the military clashes between them,” Markov said.