Criminal case against PMC Wagner founder Prigozhin dismissed

The criminal case against the founder of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin has been dismissed, TASS reports with reference to the FSB (Federal Security Bureau).

During the investigation, it was found that the participants of the military coup ceased taking actions that were directly aimed at committing a crime.

On June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of PMC Wagner, said that the Russian military had allegedly attacked the rear camps of his private military company. He threatened to use force and destroy anyone who would block the way for PMC fighters. After that, a criminal case was initiated against Prigozhin into the fact of a military coup. The Russian Defence Ministry said that Prigozhin's remarks about the strike on PMC Wagner camp was a provocation.

On June 24, Prigozhin held talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. As a result of the talks, Prigozhin said that he ordered his military columns to turn back and go back to field camps.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Prigozhin agreed to accept Lukashenko's proposal for negotiations because they "know each other for 20 years."

On June 26, Russian President Ptuin said that PMC Wagner fighters could continue their service in Russia by concluding a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry. They could also go back home or move to Belarus, Putin added.

On June 27, it was reported that Prigozhin's business jet landed in Minsk, Belarus.

This is what Prigozhin said about PMC Wagner protest:

"The purpose of the campaign was to prevent the destruction of PMC Wagner and bring to justice those who, through their unprofessional actions, made a huge number of mistakes during the special military operation.”

"We stopped at the moment when the first assault detachment that marched for 200 kilometres to Moscow, deployed its artillery, reconnoitred the area, and it became obvious that a lot of blood would be shed. Therefore, we assumed that the demonstration of what we were going to do, it was enough."

"We marched to demonstrate our protest, but not to overthrow the government in the country."

"Our march of justice revealed many things that we talked about earlier — serious security problems throughout the country. We blocked all military units and airfields that were on our way. In 24 hours, we covered the distance that equaled the distance from the launch site of the Russian troops on February 24, 2022 to Kyiv.