Russian Mercenaries Retreat To Avoid Bloodshed Near Moscow

Before Prigozhin announced that the Wagner Group would pull back, Putin's plane had taken off from Moscow early Saturday morning, sparking rumors that he had fled the country. Putin's aircraft was spotted on a flight radar heading towards St. Petersburg area. According to FlightRadar data retrieved by NEXTA, Putin's presidential plane left at 14:16 Moscow time. It was not clear where the plane was headed, and it disappeared from tracking systems near Tver, a major city north of Moscow. PHOTO BY MIKHAIL METZEL/GETTY IMAGES

In a de-escalation of a significant threat to President Vladimir Putin’s hold on power, the leader of Russian mercenary fighters from the Wagner militia, which had advanced close to Moscow, announced on Saturday that they agreed to retreat to prevent further bloodshed.

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message that the fighters would return to base because of the risk of blood being spilled.