What was the deal brokered between Russia & Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group?

Putin reportedly approved Lukashenko's offer to mediate because the Belarusian leader had known Prigozhin personally for about two decades.

After launching a full-scale armed mutiny against Russian armed forces and reaching within 125 miles (200 km) of Moscow on Saturday, Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) halted its march on the Russian capital. The PMC turned back at the instructions of its boss after a deal was reached between Prigozhin and the Kremlin, mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Then late on Saturday, Prigozhin was seen leaving the Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, which he had earlier claimed his forces had captured.

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What was the deal brokered between Russia & Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group?

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that under a deal brokered by Lukashenko, the Kremlin's criminal case against Prigozhin, in which he was to be charged for armed mutiny, would be dropped. This came after President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Saturday that the Wagner mutiny amounted to "treason" and "a stab in the back". Further, Prigozhin agreed to move to Belarus under the deal, and the fighters who joined his "march for justice" would face no consequences, legal or otherwise, in recognition of their service to the nation in fighting alongside the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine and occupying Bakhmut.

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Peskov, who termed the armed rebellion "tragic", said Putin had approved Lukashenko's offer to mediate because the Belarusian leader had known Prigozhin personally for about two decades. He added that the deal had the "higher goal" of avoiding confrontation and bloodshed on either side, echoing a statement Prigozhin himself made earlier.

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Further, there is speculation regarding major changes in leadership roles in the Kremlin and the armed forces, with The Spectator Index citing reports saying that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu might have to step down in return for Wagner's halt.

(With inputs from Reuters)