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Russia: Prigozhin tells mercenaries to turn back from Moscow advance to 'avoid bloodshed' - BBC News (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by bathory@lemmy.ml to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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Prigozhin says Wagner Group is turning its convoys around.

They wanted to dissolve Wagner Group. On June 23, we set off on our “march of justice.” In the span of 24 hours, we got within 200 kilometers of Moscow. During the time, not a single drop of our fighters’ blood was shed. Now we’ve reached a point where bloodshed is possible. So, understanding the full responsibility for the potential shedding of Russian blood from either side, we’re turning our columns around and heading back in the opposite direction towards our field camps, according to plan.

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[-] azimir@lemmy.ml 35 points 1 year ago

Perhaps this isn't the coup just yet. Most likely his attempts to rally the Russian military to his side failed and it's possible that he was offered some kind of deal to not be arrested/killed if he waved off now.

How he was going to hold Moscow with less than 20k troops (assuming some peeled off on the march for various duties), I didn't know. It's a huge city and 20k troops would be a small footprint once you spread them out over such a large metro area. Maybe waving off at this point was all part of the expected brinksmanship he's been playing with the head of the Russian MoD?

Interesting times in Russia!