Wagner chief says his forces halting advance toward Moscow to avoid bloodshed

The head of the Wagner force says he has ordered his mercenaries to halt their march on Moscow and retreat to their field camps in Ukraine to avoid shedding Russian blood.

The announcement from Yevgeny Prigozhin appears to defuse a growing crisis. Moscow had braced for the arrival of the private army led by the rebellious commander. And Russian President Vladimir Putin had vowed he would face harsh consequences.

Prigozhin says that while his men are just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid “shedding Russian blood.”

He doesn’t say whether the Kremlin has responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. There is no immediate comment from the Kremlin.

The announcement follows a statement from the office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko saying that he had negotiated a deal with Prigozhin after previously discussing the issue with Putin.

Prigozhin has accepted Lukashenko’s offer to halt the Wagner group’s advance and further steps to de-escalate the tensions, Lukashenko’s office said, adding that the proposed settlement contains security guarantees for Wagner troops. It didn’t elaborate.