As previously reported, Yevgeny Prigozhin halted his Wagner group mercenaries’ coup d’etat march on Saturday, about 125 miles shy of Russia’s Capital city of Moscow. This decision to abandon the coup attempt was reported to be based on a non-prosecution negotiation brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Vladimir Putin. Per the agreement, Prigozhin was to go into exile in Belarus, and the Kremlin was supposed to drop prosecution charges against the Wagner leader and his troops.
The feel-good nature of the resolution to abort a revolt on the Kremlin just didn’t sit right with me, and I explored that further in a piece for RedState‘s VIP readers, here:
The Elusive Truth of the Wagner Warlord’s Coup
But the illusions of a handshake truce and setting off into the sunset are already dissolving. According to RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency, the criminal case against Prigozhin has not been dropped, contrary to previous claims. The official state news agency TASS confirmed that the investigation into the mutiny, which deeply embarrassed President Vladimir Putin, was still ongoing.
A source from the Prosecutor General’s Office stated: “The criminal case against Prigozhin did not stop. The investigation continues.”
On Friday, the FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence service, initiated a criminal probe against Prigozhin on charges “for the organization of armed insurrection.” If convicted, Prigozhin could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Prigozhin’s current whereabouts are unknown since leaving a Russian military base in a civilian vehicle.
The Wagner mercenaries were to rejoin the fight in Ukraine under contract to the Ministry of Defense. Those contracts had been a contention reported between the Wagner boss and Putin in recent weeks. Details of the agreement were reported by state media, while the outspoken Prigozhin remained quiet on the issue through the weekend. On Monday, he released an 11-minute message, relaying that the contracts, which would put his troops under Kremlin’s command, were the crux of the revolt.
In his message, the Wagner leader denies that his aim was to overthrow Russia’s government, claiming instead that it was in an attempt to not have his troops disbanded.
An automated translation of Prigozhin’s audio message is available here: