Russian president Vladimir Putin was in serious danger of losing grip of his hold on Russia, a nation he has led for over two decades, after several hours of a military assault on the country’s capital.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group mercenary army that had advanced to the outskirts of Moscow held the Russia in siege for several hours on Friday and Saturday in what many described as a coup attempt.
But in a deal brokered between Putin and Prigozhin, the military assault on the Russian capital was called off. Under the terms of the deal, Prigozhin agreed to cease action and to withdraw forces from the captured city of Rostov-on-Don and leave Russia for Belarus.
Prigozhin and his prison- recruited mercenaries ended their push toward Moscow at the behest of Belorussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, one of Putin’s few allies in Europe. The deal promised Prigozhin safe passage to Belarus; the Wagner fighters who had followed him to Moscow would face no charges for taking part in a mutiny. It appears that other Wagnerites—those who had not joined the uprising—would be integrated into regular army units.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly addressed the nation in Moscow soon after the military assault was foiled in what many see as a face-saving measure and to reassure the people of his continued control as well as calm nerves.
But all that did little to calm speculations that the episode marked the end of Putin’s iron grip on Russia, leaving questions on the lips of many on how strong the grip remains – and whether there could be another possible challenge.
“This is a very powerful defeat for him,” Poitical Pundits Ttiana Stanovaya said, Bloomberg reports
Additional reports from Yahoo news
