Lukashenko Strikes Deal With Wagner Group, Prigozhin Retreats

On Saturday, Aleksandr Grigórievich Lukashenko, President of Belarus, announced he arranged a deal in which Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, in exchange for “security guarantees” for his fighters, he will end the current armed insurgency in Russia; the talks were held in coordination with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Evgeny Prigozhin accepted the proposal of President Alexander Lukashenko to stop the movement of armed men of Wagner in Russia and take further steps to de-escalate tension,” says an official statement from Lukashenko's office.

Prigozhin was offered “an advantageous and acceptable option of resolving the situation, with security guarantees for the Wagner PMC (Private Military Company) fighters,” said Lukashenko’s office statement.

According to the statement, after a “whole day” of talks, Lukashenko and Prigozhin “came to an agreement on the inadmissibility of unleashing a bloodbath on the territory of Russia.”

Official reports state that Wagner’s convoy drove closer to Moscow, several hours after members of the private military group passed through the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, in Russia.

Moreover, Prigozhin has announced that the PMC convoy is returning to its field camps.

President Putin accused the Wagner chief of “backstabbing our country and our people,” adding that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal investigation into Prigozhin for “calling for an armed rebellion.”

Since Friday, in a series of video statements, Prigozhin declared that he intended to advance to on Moscow in order to confront the Russian military officials he deemed “corrupt.”