Courtesy The New Arab

Three thousand elite Chechen troops took up positions in Moscow early on Saturday morning to defend the Russian capital against advancing mutineers from the Wagner mercenary group, the Chechen state broadcaster “Grozny” said on Saturday night.

“The fighters have been at their positions in Moscow since early morning and are ready to carry out any order from Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin,” it said on Telegram.

On Saturday afternoon, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to call back his armed convoy approaching the capital with the aim of toppling the military leadership, under an agreement brokered by the president of Belarus.

The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s military top brass had boiled over Saturday, with mercenaries capturing a key army headquarters in southern Russia and then heading north to threaten the capital.

Peskov also said it was “out of the question” that Wagner’s aborted rebellion would impact Russia’s campaign against Kyiv.

The mercenary Wagner group  on Saturday began pulling back fighters and equipment from the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin halted the fighters’ march on Moscow.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw a tank, several cargo trucks and several minivans carrying fighters leave the military headquarters the group had occupied earlier.

Dozens of residents in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday were chanting “Wagner! Wagner!” outside the military headquarters that had been captured earlier by the rebel mercenary group.

As night fell, dozens of locals gathered near the military office to express support for Wagner, after its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had said he would stop the group’s march on Moscow and turn back.

The leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner has halted a planned offensive on the capital Moscow to “avoid bloodshed”, Belarus’s president has claimed, after an armed uprising by in Ukraine and Rostov-on-Don threw the country into chaos.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Saturday he had negotiated with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin an end to the movement of Wagner forces inside Russia in order to deescalate the situation.

“Yevgeny Prigozhin has accepted the proposal of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on stopping the movement of armed individuals from the Wagner group on Russian territory and further steps on deescalating tensions,” Lukashenko’s press service said in a statement.

It comes after the group seized a key military base on Saturday, just as Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s vowed to defeat the revolt and head off the threat of civil war.

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The governor of the Lipetsk region, whose capital is just 420 kilometres (260 miles) south of Moscow, said Wagner’s private military force was “moving across” the territory and urged civilians not to leave their homes.

In the capital, the mayor urged Muscovites to stay indoors and declared Monday a day off work.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said on Saturday that unrest in Russia spurred by an armed mutiny of the private Russian Wagner group presented an opportunity for Kyiv, weeks after announcing a counter-offensive against Russian positions.

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Earlier on, President Putin has vowed “decisive actions” early on Saturday as a tense standoff unfolded in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, which Russian authorities previously said was “an armed rebellion” by the outspoken mercenary tycoon Prigozhin.

In a five-minute televised address, Putin called the situation in Rostov-on-Don “a stab in the back of our country and our people”.

Militia leader Yevgeny Prigozhin who turned his Wagner force against the military leadership in Moscow, will leave for Belarus and a criminal case against him will be dropped, the Kremlin said Saturday.

“Avoiding bloodshed, internal confrontation, and clashes with unpredictable results was the highest goal,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Under the agreement, brokered by Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko, Wagner fighters will not be prosecuted, Peskov added. “We have always respected their heroic deeds at the front.”

“An agreement has been reached that Wagner would return to its bases,” Peskov said, adding that those fighters who had not participated in the rebellion would be allowed to formally join the Russian army.

Prigozhin called off his troops’ advance toward Moscow on Saturday, pulling Russia back from its most serious security crisis in decades.

According to Belarus news agency, the President of Belarus has informed the President of Russia about the results of negotiations with the leadership of PMC Wagner”.

Vladimir Putin thanked Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko after the chief of Wagner announced he was turning around his forces, The Russian president expressed support and thanked the Belarusian counterpart for the work he had done.”

Belarus has in the past been one of the Russia’s main supporters with an active role is Russia’s aggression on Ukraine.  

The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force threatened to march on Moscow on Saturday before announcing a stunning pull-back, saying he did not want to spill blood.

According to the United Arab Emirates’ news agency, the UAE is following “with great concern” the situation in Russia and calls for de-escalation and self-restraint. The statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed the need to respect the rules and principles of international law.

The UAE has drawn criticism in the past for failing to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Gulf country is one of Russia’s major allies in the middle east.