Palace coup: Putin resurfaces, drops charges against Prigozhin’s crew

Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports

Russian government has fulfilled its pledge to grant pardon to mutineers who attempted to dethrone President Vladimir Putin in a surprise raid which took the world by surprise last weekend.

The peace deal brokered by the Belurusian President, Aleksander Lukashenko, was introduced after the Wagner group declared that its uprising was against the Russian military structure, and that it was not targeted at regime change.

Russian authorities said Tuesday they have closed a criminal investigation into the armed rebellion led by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, with no charges against him or any of the other participants.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said its investigation found that those involved in the mutiny “ceased activities directed at committing the crime,” so the case would not be pursued.

The official position of the Russian government authenticating the deal for a truce that saved the Kremlin from armed insurrection came as the rich Russian elite maintained a one way exodus out of the country, and President Putin who fled Moscow upon advancement of the Wagner forces resurfaced in a televised broadcast.

The Oracle Today reports that over 15 commercial flights from Moscow and St Petersburg returned to the country empty of passengers as most residents bought one way tickets out of the country and out of trouble.

The announcement offering freedom for peace was the latest twist in a series of stunning events in recent days that have brought the gravest threat so far to President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power amid the 16-month-old war in Ukraine.

President Putin had vowed to deal with the coupists ruthlessly after the Wagner mercenary forces controlled by Prigozhin turned against the government of Putin following skirmishes with Russian armed forces as the mercenaries feuded with regular Russian forces at the battlefront with Ukraine.

Wagner mercenary forces, The Oracle Today reports, have hitherto been prime beneficiaries of President Putin’s unofficial hit jobs, enjoying official cover in mostly unofficial and criminal mercenary operations in conflict areas around the world.

The United States intelligence sources state that the Wagner mercenaries operate in more than 30 countries in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. But the Wagner group became prominent in the Ukrainian war where it is accused of brutal war crimes in Bucha, Kharkiv and other provinces where Russian forces invaded.

Analysts believe that Prigozhin is one the factors that have sustained Putin in power in the past 24 years, and would now remain the nemesis of the Russian president until he steps down from power.

Over the weekend, the Kremlin pledged not to prosecute Prigozhin and his fighters after he stopped the revolt on Saturday, even though Putin had branded them as traitors that must be crushed with brutal force.

The charge of mounting an armed mutiny carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. Prigozhin escaping prosecution poses a stark contrast to how the Kremlin has treated those staging anti-government protests in Russia.

Many opposition figures in Russia have received long prison terms and are serving time in penal colonies notorious for harsh conditions. Many have also died in detention.

But Prigozhin and his gang of mercenaries whom shot down Russia military jets and killed nearlyn40 regular soldiers during the coup attempt were granted amnesty and allowed to relocate to Belarus where the government is subservient to the Russian Kremlin.

An independent Belarusian military monitoring project Belaruski Hajun said a business jet that Prigozhin reportedly uses landed near Minsk on Tuesday morning.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, portrayed the uprising as the latest development in a clash between Prigozhin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Their long-simmering personal feud has at times boiled over, and Prigozhin has said the revolt aimed to unseat Shoigu, not Putin.

Lukashenko, a close Putin ally who brokered a deal with Prigozhin to stop the uprising has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for 29 years, relentlessly stifling dissent and relying on Russian subsidies and political support.

He had framed the insurrection by Wagner as a significant threat, saying he placed Belarus’ armed forces on a combat footing as the mutiny unfolded.

Although he was critical of Prigozhin, Putin praised the work of Wagner commanders. In his speech, Putin offered Prigozhin’s fighters to either come under Russia’s Defense Ministry’s command, leave service or go to Belarus.

Prigozhin said Monday, without elaborating, that the Belarusian leadership proposed solutions that would allow Wagner to operate “in a legal jurisdiction,” but it was unclear what that meant.

In an 11-minute audio statement, Prigozhin denied trying to attack the Russian state and said he acted in response to an attack on his force that killed some 30 of his fighters.