Military coup over: Prigozhin orders PMC Wagner columns to return to field camps

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of private military company Wagner, accepted the proposal from President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to stop the movement of PMC convoys in Russia.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin on June 24. The talks were held throughout the day. They ended with an agreement that implied security guarantees for the fighters of the private military company.

Prigozhin confirmed the agreement and announced that columns of PMC Wagner fighters that were heading towards Moscow were turned back. PMC units will return to their field camps, Prigozhin said.

"During the day we have covered a distance that left us 200 kilometres far from Moscow. During this time, we have not shed a single drop of the blood of our fighters. Now is the moment when blood can be shed,” Prigozhin said.

After the negotiations with Prigozhin, Lukashenko spoke with Putin over the phone. The President of Belarus informed his Russian counterpart about the agreement with the head of the PMC.

Putin thanked the President of Belarus for his work to de-escalate the crisis, TASS reports.

PMC Wagner fighters prepare to depart from Rostov-on-Don

After Prigozhin's decision to turn PMC columns back, Wagner fighters in Rostov-on-Don stated making preparations to leave the city. They start their tanks and load munitions to leave.

One of the fighters told RIA Novosti that PMC units would leave Rostov-on-Don for a field camp in the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). The situation in the city remains calm, the agency also said.

On June 24, President Putin said in a televised address to the nation that the masterminds of the military coup were traitors. Putin said that he would do everything to protect Russia, its citizens and the Constitutional order.

It was reported before Putin's address that PMC Wagner seized the building of the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don and set up military posts on the streets of the city.

It was later said that columns of military equipment with PMC Wagner fighters started moving in the direction of Moscow. The Moscow authorities started taking emergency measures setting up checkpoints and arming the police. A counter-terrorism operation regime was introduced in Moscow and the region. Moscow Mayor Sobyanin later announced that June 26 would be a non-working day in the Russian capital in connection with the crisis. The decision about the non-working day has not been revoked after it was said that PMC Wagner columns were ordered to turn back.