Wagner Group stops armed rebellion toward Moscow

Members of the mercenary Wagner Group stopped their armed rebellion against Russian forces on Saturday, as mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said that he would move to Belarus following an effort by his troops to topple Russia's defense minister in Moscow.

After a series of negotiations helmed by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin announced that the Wagner push into Moscow had been halted. Prigozhin has agreed to move to Belarus and will not face prosecution by Russia, per The Associated Press, nor will any of the Wagner troops who joined him.

The truce comes in the wake of one of the biggest threats to Russian aggression since the start of the war in Ukraine, as a growing feud between Prigozhin and the Russian military devolved into conflict on Friday. The Wagner Group, a collection of private mercenaries that previously fought alongside Russia, began an invasion of their own, with reports emerging that Wagner fighters "crossed from occupied Ukraine into Russia on at least two occasions," according to intelligence from the British Ministry of Defense (MOD).

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Wagner mercenaries took over the city of Rostov-on-Don, about 660 miles south of Moscow, the British MOD tweeted. This location is a military stronghold for the Russian military, and Wagner "has almost certainly occupied key sites" in Rostov, the British MOD said, "including the headquarters which runs Russia's military operations in Ukraine."

Russian President Vladimir Putin released an address calling the Wagner Group's actions "a stab in the back," vowing to punish those who had "betrayed" Russia. Putin, who was previously a close ally of Prigozhin, did not mention the Wagner leader by name, but said those "who prepared an armed rebellion, stood on the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment."

Updated June 24, 2023: This article has been updated throughout to reflect recent developments.