The leader of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, remains the subject of a criminal investigation for rebellion, despite the fact that the Kremlin has announced an agreement to drop the charges, Russian news agencies reported Monday.
“The process has not been closed, the investigation continues,” said a source from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, quoted by the three main Russian news agencies.
The Kremlin said late Saturday that Prigozhin, who is under investigation for “calling an armed mutiny,” could leave for Belarus without prosecution after the end of the 24-hour military rebellion.
Mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group took control of the Russian army headquarters in Rostov, in southwestern Russia, last Saturday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the group’s action a rebellion, saying it was a “deadly threat” to the Russian state and treason, guaranteeing that “civil war” would not ensue.
Prigozhin accused the Russian army of attacking his mercenary camps, causing “a large number of casualties”. However, at the end of the day on Saturday, when the advance of the Wagnerian forces was reported to some 200 kilometers from Moscow, the head of the paramilitary group announced that he had negotiated an agreement with the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
Source: TSF
