Charges dropped against Wagner chief, other rebels

Russia has dropped charges against Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his fighters after they ended a short-armed rebellion against the country’s military leadership over the weekend. 

The Russian Federal Security Service said it found those involved in the rebellion “ceased activities directed at committing the crime” and closed its criminal investigation. A case had been opened against Prigozhin on Friday on allegations that he was inciting a rebellion. 

Prigozhin’s Wagner Group, a private military contractor Russia has used during its war in Ukraine, launched the rebellion to remove Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu from his position. Prigozhin criticized the Russian military over its inability to make gains in Ukrainian territory during the war and rejected Russia’s justification for its full-scale invasion, accusing the Russian government of lying about it. 

The group captured the town of Rostov-on-Don, which is home to Russia’s military headquarters for conducting the war in Ukraine, and was marching toward Moscow but reached a deal with the Kremlin to not continue to press forward and not face prosecution over their actions. 

Prigozhin was set to be sent to Belarus as part of the agreement, which Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed credit for negotiating. Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Prigozhin and Belarusian authorities have not yet confirmed he arrived in Belarus. But Belaruski Hajun, an independent Belarusian military monitoring project, said a business jet Prigozhin reportedly uses landed in the country’s capital of Minsk on Tuesday. 

With the apparent agreement, Prigozhin avoids a fate that many in Russia have faced for even unarmed protests. Many have been sentenced to long prison terms in penal colonies with harsh conditions. 

Prigozhin has said he was trying to remove only Shoigu from power, not Putin. The Russian president slammed their actions during an address to the country on Monday, calling the organizers traitors. 

But he also praised Wagner fighters for not allowing the rebellion to lead to “major bloodshed.” 

The Associated Press contributed.