No prosecution of ‘Wagner’ chief and his fighters: Russia

Moscow. The head of Russia’s Wagner Group has rebelled against the Russian Defense Ministry amid the ongoing war with Ukraine. In view of this rebellion, the Russian Defense Ministry has issued an arrest warrant against the head of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Meanwhile, Russia has also informed on Saturday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private army ‘Wagner Group’, and his fighters will not be prosecuted. Prigozhin, who declared an armed rebellion against Russia, ordered his fighters to march towards Moscow, the capital of Russia.

However, he later asked the fighters to make a sudden change of route, after which they would head to neighboring Belarus. The Wagner chief said on Saturday that he had ordered his fighters not to advance towards Moscow and return to their bases in Ukraine to avoid bloodshed of Russian citizens. This is the biggest challenge President Vladimir Putin has faced in his more than two decades in office. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that charges against Prigozhin for inciting an armed rebellion would be dropped and that the fighters who joined him would not be prosecuted. Peskov also said that the fighters of the ‘Wagner’ group who had joined Prigozhin in the uprising would be offered contracts by the Ministry of Defense.

Earlier, Putin in a televised address to the nation on Saturday termed the declaration of armed rebellion by the “Wagner Group” as “betrayal” and “treason”. Peskov allowed Prigozhin and his fighters to leave freely, saying that Putin’s “greatest objective” was to avoid “bloodshed and internal conflict, which could have unpredictable consequences.” decided to send his fighters back when they were about 200 kilometers from Moscow, so as not to shed the blood of the Russian people. Prigozhin said his private army had 25,000 fighters and had decided not to surrender because “we do not want the country to live under the shadow of corruption, deceit and bureaucracy”. In the audio message, Prigozhin said, “It is wrong to accuse the president of betraying the motherland.” We are patriots who love our motherland.

Prigozhin has also talked about sending his fighters to occupy Rostov-on-Don, the headquarters of the Russian army. Prigozhin could face up to 20 years in prison for armed rebellion. Let us tell you that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, announced the overthrow of the Russian military leadership on Saturday. Prigozhin alleged that the Russian military leadership was orchestrating attacks on him. Prigozhin has announced that only a few hours ago the Russian Defense Ministry had accused Prigozhin of inciting an armed rebellion.