Wagner Group Russia Coup Updates: Putin, Lukashenko hold another call after thwarted mutiny

Members of Wagner group look from a military vehicle with the sign read as "Brother" in Rostov-on-Don late on June 24, 2023. (AFP)

Wagner Group Russia Coup updates: Wagner Group Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his heavily armed forces overnight pulled out of Rostov region, where they had taken over Russia's southern military headquarters. The move came after the Wagner group decided to halt approaching Moscow under a deal which defused the challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A deal was brokered by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko which stated that the Wagner group,  a private army of mercenaries that spearheaded much of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, would go back to the base in Ukraine in return for the guarantee of their safety and Prigozhin would move to Belarus. 

Prigozhin had vowed to ‘go all the way’ on Saturday to topple the military leadership in Moscow after he accused the Russian military of launching a deadly strike on his troops. In an audio message, the 62-year-old mercenary leader said that his troops will ‘destroy everything that stands in our way’ and warned Russians against resisting his forces and called on to join him. “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” he added. The extraordinary development came as a result of Prigozhin's bitter feud with Moscow's military leadership over the months.