Peskov: the criminal case against Prigozhin will be dropped, he will leave for Belarus

The fighters of PMC Wagner, who did not participate in the rebellion, will be able to conclude a contract with the Ministry of Defense, the rest of the fighters will not be prosecuted, and the founder of the company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, will leave for Belarus. The criminal case against him will be dropped. This was told to journalists by the press secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov. According to him, Lukashenka offered mediation efforts to resolve the situation with Yevgeny Prigozhin in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin.

“The two presidents really agreed that President Lukashenko would mediate efforts to resolve the situation. We highly appreciate this readiness. You will probably ask me why exactly President Lukashenka? The fact is that Alexander Grigorievich has long been personally acquainted with Prigogine, for about 20 years. And this was his personal initiative proposal, which was agreed with President Putin. We are grateful to the President of Belarus for these efforts,” Peskov told reporters. According to him, in the end, it was possible to resolve this situation “without further losses, without a further increase in the level of tension.”

As a result of negotiations between Lukashenka and Prigozhin, an agreement was reached that the PMC Wagner would return to their camps, Peskov said.

“Some of them, who wish, will sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense. This applies to the part that did not take part in this campaign. Indeed, there were such compounds that changed their minds from the very beginning and returned. They even requested escort from the traffic police, other assistance in order to return to their places of permanent deployment,” the Kremlin spokesman said. The rest of the fighters will not be prosecuted, Peskov said: “No one will prosecute them, taking into account their merits at the front. We have always respected their heroic deeds at the front and will always keep this respect.”

The criminal case against Prigozhin will be dropped, and he will “leave for Belarus,” Peskov said. Such agreements were recorded in the evening conversation between Putin and Lukashenko, he added. However, Peskov did not say what Prigozhin would do in Belarus. In addition, he does not know where Prigozhin is now. At the same time, Peskov added that the guarantee that Prigozhin will be able to leave for Belarus is “the word of the President of Russia.”

When asked by journalists about whether other conditions were discussed for the departure of PMC Wagner to their places of deployment, Peskov said that “there are more conditions that I could <...> say no.”

As for possible personnel changes in the Ministry of Defense, Peskov said that “these issues are within the exclusive prerogative and competence of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.” When asked if the president still trusts the defense minister, Peskov said: “I am not aware of any changes in this regard.”

Peskov also commented on the president’s morning statement that everyone who deliberately took the path of betrayal would be punished and answer before the law. According to the Kremlin spokesman, the main goal was to avoid bloodshed, internal confrontation, clashes with unpredictable results. “And it was in the name of these goals that Lukashenka’s mediation efforts were implemented. And President Putin made the appropriate decision,” Peskov said. At the same time, Peskov forwarded the question of how many servicemen died as a result of today’s actions of the Wagner PMC to the Ministry of Defense.

No new addresses by Vladimir Putin are planned at night, Peskov said. According to him, the president spent the whole day on June 24 in the Kremlin. The counter-terrorist operation regime will be lifted “in the very near future,” he added. This regime was introduced in Moscow and several other regions on the 24th.