'Cheering, Kissing Goodbyes': How Russians Reacted To Wagner Forces Leaving City After Rebellion
Fighters from the powerful mercenary group Wagner left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don today, a day after threatening to overthrow the government.?
"A Wagner column left Rostov and headed to their field camps," governor Vasily Golubev said on Telegram. On Saturday, the mercenaries had seized control of a key military base in the city.
Feud between Wagner chief and Russian military chiefs
The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian army came to a violent head on Saturday, with his forces capturing a key army headquarters in southern Russia and then heading north to threaten the capital.
The mercenary outfit Wagner, which carried out much of the grunt work in the battle of Bakhmut, mutinied against high command and seized the city of Rostov in southwestern Russia, largely unopposed by local security forces. The mutiny is the fruition of a long-running feud between Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian military chiefs.?
The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will go to Belarus and will not face charges after calling off his troops' advance on Moscow, the Russian government said, easing the country's most serious security crisis in decades.
Prigozhin claims to have shot down three Russian helicopters, and that the armed forces have fired rockets on Wagner¡¯s positions.
Russians chanted, clapped for Wagner boss
Visuals released by the Wagner group on Telegram group showed a huge crowd cheering as the Wagner forces left the town in their armoured vehicles and tanks.Dozens were cheering, kissing goodbyes and chanting "Wagner! Wagner!" outside the military headquarters Wagner had captured.
People even lined up to take pictures with the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The events capped a day of escalating drama that saw Prigozhin take convoys of his fighters to within hours of the capital virtually unchallenged, even after President Vladimir Putin accused the mercenary group of ¡°treason¡± in a TV broadcast to the nation.
The tide shifted suddenly in the evening when Prigozhin made the stunning announcement that his troops were "turning our columns around and going back to field camps" to avoid bloodshed in the Russian capital.
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