Heavily armed Russian mercenaries who advanced most of the way to Moscow began turning back on Saturday, de-escalating a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin's grip on power, in a move their leader said would avoid bloodshed. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Putin ally and founder of the Wagner army, said his men reached within 125 miles (200 km) of the capital. Earlier, Moscow deployed soldiers in preparation for their arrival and told residents to avoid going out. The Wagner fighters captured the city of Rostov hundreds of miles to the south before racing in convoy through the country, transporting tanks and armoured trucks and smashing through barricades set up to stop them, the video showed.

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On Saturday night, Wagner fighters loaded tanks on trailers and began withdrawing from the Rostov military headquarters they had seized, a Reuters witness said. "In 24 hours we got to within 200 km of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters' blood," Prigozhin, dressed in full combat uniform at an undisclosed location, said in a video. "Understanding ... that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned."

Reuters could not independently verify how far Prigozhin's mercenaries had reached. The video earlier showed convoys of Wagner vehicles less than 310 miles (500 km) from Moscow. The office of Alexander Lukashenko said the decision to halt the further movement of Wagner fighters was brokered by the Belarusian president, with Putin's approval, in return for guarantees for their safety. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Prigozhin himself will move to Belarus under the deal. Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to mediate because he had known the mercenary leader personally for around 20 years.

LITTLE PUSHBACK FROM ARMED FORCES

Wagner's lightning insurrection appeared to develop with little pushback from Russia's regular armed forces, raising questions about Putin's hold on power in the nuclear-armed nation even after the abrupt halt to Wagner's advance. Earlier, Prigozhin said that what he called a "march for justice" was intended to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.