PUTIN: ‘25,000 Mercenaries’ Stopped From Attacking Russia’s Capital Moscow After Diplomatic Intervention

The head of the Wagner paramilitary group and mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has temporarily stopped his troops from advancing and launching an attack on Russia’s capital, Moscow.

Prigozhin had approved an internal revolt in the country which forced President Vladimir Putin to issue a national address for a united country.

Prigozhin, who has been Putin’s ally for many years and whose mercenary organization were engaged to invade neighbouring Ukraine, called out Putin and his top military generals for alleged corruption.

He said Putin’s war in Ukraine was borne out of false pretense, adding that his government abandoned them to die at the war front.

“There are 25,000 of us and we are going to find out why there is such chaos in the country. There are 25,000 of us waiting as a tactical reserve and a strategic reserve. It’s the whole army and the whole country, everyone who wants to join us. We must end this debacle,” he said on Friday before staging a revolt and claimed to have seized Russia’s Southern Military District in Rostov afterwards.

On his part, Putin described the Wagner chief as a betrayer while also pointing accusing fingers at the West, including the United States, whose diplomatic offices have already started monitoring “developments” in the country.

Fighting raged between both sides in the afternoon with Putin vowing to take out the rebels.

But the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have reached out to Prigozhin on Saturday over the development, and urged him not to advance into Moscow.

“Evgeny Prigozhin has accepted the proposal of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to stop the movements of the armed men of the Wagner society and measures for a de-escalation of tensions”, the Belarusian presidency stated.

In his audio statement following the diplomatic call by Russia’s neighbour and ally, Belarus, Prigozhin agreed to suspend action but noted that his “plan” was intact.

He claimed he does not want any bloodshed in Moscow.

“We are turning our columns around and going back in the other direction toward our field camps, in accordance with the plan,” he said.

Meanwhile, the revolt has been described by Putin as a “stab”.

The government of the conflict-ridden Ukraine has mocked Putin over the planned attack, telling the international community that Russia’s alleged “weakness” has been further exposed by Wagner’s internal revolt.