Criminal case opened against Wagner Chief amid threat of escalation: Russia’s Federal Security Service

Moscow (Russia): A criminal case has been opened against the Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin amid the seriousness of the situation and a threat of escalating confrontation in the Russia, Federal Security Service’s Public Relations Center said, reported TASS News agency.

“Amid the seriousness of the situation and the threat of escalation of confrontation in the Russian Federation the FSB has opened a criminal case into the fact of a call for an armed rebellion on the part of Yevgeny Prigozhin,” it said.

On Saturday morning, Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a Telegram post, announced that his men had crossed the border from Ukraine into southern Russia and were ready to go “all the way” against the Russian military, TASS News Agency reported.

He said he and his men would destroy anyone who stood in their way. “But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said, adding, “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”

However, after Wagner mercenary force chief decided to halt his forces’ march to Moscow under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Kremlin spokesperson on Saturday said the charges against the Wagner leader who led an armed mutiny against the country’s military leadership would be dropped, The New York Times reported.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S Peskov said Prigozhin will go to Belarus, and the fighters who rebelled with him would not be prosecuted by law given their “service at the front.”

“Wagner fighters who did not participate in the mutiny can sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense,” New York Times quoted Peskov as saying.

This comes shortly after the Belarusian president stated he was in talks with Prigozhin about an agreement to “de-escalate tensions.”

Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus wrote, “At 9 p.m. tonight, the Presidents spoke again by phone. The President of Belarus Lukashenko informed the President of Russia about the results of negotiations with the leader of the Wagner Group. President Putin thanked his counterpart for the work done.”

ANI