ROSTOV-ON-DON/VORONEZH, Russia - Russian mercenaries with heavy weapons retreated from the city of Rostov in the south of the country over night as part of an agreement that halted their quick march on Moscow.
In exchange for assurances of their safety, the Wagner group's warriors put an end to their mutiny and returned to their bases. Yevgeny Prigozhin, their leader, will relocate to Belarus as part of the agreement brokered by Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus.
While Italy's foreign minister said that the upheaval has dispelled the "myth" of Russian unity, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken predicted that the unrest in Russia may continue for months.
Since the agreement was reached to defuse one of the worst crises since he came to power more than two decades ago, Putin has refrained from making any public remarks.
In extracts from an interview that was shown on state television on Sunday, he said that the Ukrainian crisis was his top concern, but it appeared that the interview had been conducted before the mutiny because he made no mention of what had happened on Saturday.
Without going into any detail, state television also reported that Putin will attend a Security Council meeting this coming week. According to Belarus' Belta news agency, Putin and Lukashenko spoke again on Sunday following at least two calls on Saturday.
Prigozhin, 62, was observed driving out from the district military headquarters in Rostov, which is hundreds of miles south of Moscow, late on Saturday. On Sunday, nobody knew where he was.
Former Putin loyalist and ex-felon Prigozhin claimed his plan to march on Moscow was designed to remove corrupt and inept Russian commanders he blames for botching the war. His men have fought the heaviest battles of the 16-month conflict in Ukraine.
Russian officials, who own the greatest nuclear arsenal in the world, have voiced alarm over the unrest there.
“We’ve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It is too soon to tell exactly where they go, and when they get there. But certainly, we have all sorts of new questions that Putin is going to have to address in the weeks and months ahead,” Blinken told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday.
Blinken said that the United States was still committed to "resolutely and relentlessly" assisting Ukraine in defending itself and regaining the area that Russia had taken over the previous 16 months.
China, a significant Putin supporter, initially avoided mentioning the unrest in public. However, on Sunday, following discussions with a top Russian official who was visiting China, China said that it backed Russia in maintaining national stability.
The mercenaries started what Prigozhin dubbed a "march for justice" on Saturday after seizing Rostov, the primary logistical base for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They transported tanks and armored trucks hundreds of kilometers north and destroyed barriers erected to halt them before the agreement to stand down.
Videos posted on social media overnight from Rostov allegedly showed the mercenaries leaving in a procession of tanks, armored cars, and buses to shouts, "Wagner" chants, and celebratory shooting from locals.
According to the agreement, reached late on Saturday, Prigozhin would move to Belarus, the criminal case filed against him for an armed mutiny would be dropped, and Wagner fighters who supported him would not be prosecuted because of their prior service to Russia.
According to Peskov, Lukashenko volunteered to mediate with Putin's blessing since Prigozhin was a personal friend of his that he had known for almost 20 years.
In a televised speech amid Saturday's drama, Putin claimed that the uprising threatened Russia's very existence, vowed to punish the uprising's leaders, and drew comparisons between the unrest of 1917 and the Bolshevik revolution.
Prigozhin has been accusing the head of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, and defense minister Sergei Shoigu of being incompetent and failing to provide his soldiers with ammunition while they fought to capture Bakhmut in Ukraine for months.
Prigozhin disobeyed demands to transfer his forces under the direction of the Defense Ministry this month. After claiming that the military had killed three of his men in an air strike, he started the uprising on Friday. This was refuted by the Defense Ministry.
With hundreds of former inmates recruited from Russian prisons among his soldiers in Ukraine, Wagner has expanded into a vast multinational company with mining holdings and fighters throughout Africa and the Middle East.
