Russian rebel chief’s days ‘are done’

said. “It’s inconceivable to me that Putin will allow him to live any longer than is absolutely necessary.” e Wagner ghters’ march toward Moscow sent the Kremlin scrambling to protect the capital after the mercenaries reportedly, in a matter of hours, took control of the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

Rostov is strategically symbolic as the seat of the Southern Military District for the Russian military, a logistical and command hub for Putin’s war on Ukraine.

As part of the deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin would go into exile in Belarus in exchange for calling o the insurrection. e Kremlin agreed to drop the criminal case against Prigozhin, according to the state controlled outlet TASS.

“Obviously this does show a level of unprecedented weakness for President Putin,” Mr Bremmer said.

“But at the same time, while Putin was unprecedently tested, there was not a single high-level defection from the Russian military, from the Russian Government or among the Russian oligarchs — so anyone that believes that Putin is suddenly is on the brink of leaving power, also needs to recognise that’s not where we are,” he said. e bitter feud between Prigozhin and the military establishment in Moscow escalated in recent weeks after the Kremlin wanted all private mercenary forces to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry by July 1. Prigozhin had refused. e stando spilled into the open when Prigozhin launched an armed rebellion on Friday after accusing the Russian army of ring at his mercenaries. e Wagner ghters have been a signi cant force in Putin’s war against Ukraine, and played an important role in the capture the eastern city of Bakhmut.

“Prigozhin’s objective was to draw Putin’s attention and to impose a discussion about conditions to preserve his activities — a de ned role, security, and funding,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, wrote on Twitter.

“ ese weren’t demands for a governmental overthrow; they were a desperate bid to save the enterprise, hoping that Prigozhin’s merits in taking Bakhmut ... would be taken into account and the concerns would catch Putin’s serious attention,” she said.

St. Petersburg’s authorities did not grant [Prigozhin’s] daughter a coveted land plot,” Kadyrov said.

Kadyrov did not identify the daughter, the land plot or the date of when the alleged attempt to acquire it took place.

Prigozhin’s daughters Polina and Veronika, as well as his son Pavel, were reported to be business owners in Russia’s second-largest city, St Petersburg.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin agreed to allow Prigozhin to escape criminal mutiny charges in exchange for standing down and going into exile in neighbouring Belarus.

Wagner mercenaries headed back to base on after the announced deal.

But the Kommersant business daily paper, and later state news agencies, reported that Prigozhin was still under investigation for an armed rebellion that Putin had slammed as a betrayal. e Telegraph cited its sources as saying that President Vladimir Putin “will now try to assimilate Wagner Group soldiers into the Russian military and take out its former leaders” following the dramatic events.