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‘Shame…traitor’: Rostov locals yell at Russian police after Wagner fighters left city
Some locals had reportedly hailed the Wagner fighters and welcomed them with sweets and water.
Residents of Russia's southern military district Rostov-on-Don registered their anger at the police as they were making their way to the city after the Wagner mercenary forces left on Saturday night. In a video clip that went viral on social media, people could be heard yelling at the police convoy and calling them ‘traitors’.
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The recent development comes after some Rostov residents hailed Wagner fighters as heroes and brought them sweets and water, despite President Vladmir Putin called their ‘armed mutiny’ a ‘stab in the back’ for the country.
“The army has been fighting incorrectly from the beginning and they put too much [pressure] on these guys. In Bakhmut, everywhere. And you see what happens? Our own army is trying to stop us from winning this war,” a resident told The Guardian.
The mastermind of what is now seen as a coup is Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who earlier vowed to ‘go all the way’ to topple the militray leadership in Moscow. However in a sudden turn of events, the Wagner chief put an abrupt halt to the rebellion following a deal that was brokered by Moscow's ally and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
According to the deal, Prigozhin and his troops will not face any criminal charge on condition of him to move to neighbouring Belarus. The latest deal was in the contrary to what Putin earlier said. In a televised address to the nation, he vowed to punish those behind the armed uprising led by his onetime protege.
