Prigozhin announces stop of march on Moscow

Evgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the "Wagner" Private Military Company (PMC), said that he had stopped his march on Moscow, was turning his columns back and taking them to field camps. Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian President, has treated this as the result of his negotiations with Prigozhin.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 23, Prigozhin accused the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) of shelling the PMC's rear positions, and promised to "sort things out." Later, in Rostov-on-Don, armoured personnel carriers (APCs) appeared near the command building of the Southern Military District; and Prigozhin himself, accompanied by his armed fighters, entered the territory of the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don and voiced his threats and ultimatums to Yunus-Bek Evkurov, a former head of Ingushetia and now a Deputy Minister of Defence, and to Vladimir Alekseev, a Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff.

As Prigozhin has reported in the Telegram channel "Prigozhin's Cap", the "march of justice" to Moscow was caused by the fact that they had wanted to disband the "Wagner" PMC. "In 24 hours, we have passed up to 200 kilometres from Moscow," he has stated.

Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, held talks with Prigozhin. It was reported by the "Belta" news agency with reference to the press service of the Belarusian President.

"They've come to an agreement on the inadmissibility of unleashing a bloody massacre on the territory of Russia. Prigozhin has accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of armed forces of the 'Wagner' PMC in Russian territory and take further steps to de-escalate the tension," the message says.