Criminal case against Russian paramilitary Wagner group head not yet closed: Report

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian media claimed on Monday that the criminal case against Wagner group head Evgeny Prigozhin has not yet been closed despite the de-escalation deal announced on Saturday evening.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier claimed that the deal reached through the mediation of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested the dropping of all charges against Prigozhin and his departure to Belarus.

However, the Russian state-run news agency TASS reported, citing a source in the Attorney General's office, that the criminal case against Prigozhin has not been closed and that the investigation is ongoing.

On June 24, the paramilitary Wagner group accused the Russian Defense Ministry of attacking its fighters, and then Prigozhin declared "A March of Justice" and crossed the Ukrainian border into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, intending to march toward Moscow.

The Federal Security Service in Russia qualified Wagner's actions as "an armed rebellion" and opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, while Russian President Vladimir Putin called Wagner's uprising an act of "treason."

Later that day, Prigozhin and his fighters decided to turn back "to avoid bloodshed" when they were 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Moscow.

Belarusian President Lukashenko said he contributed to the settlement by holding talks with the Wagner’s head, which led to Prigozhin's decision to accept a de-escalation deal.​​​​​​​