Prigozhin and all Wagnerites leave Southern Military District HQ in Rostov-on-Don – Russian media

All of the Wagner Group fighters and Yevgeny Prigozhin have left the previously captured Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov-on-Don.

Source: Russian state-owned media outlet RIA Novosti

Quote: "All Wagner Group fighters have left the Southern Military District HQ in Rostov-on-Don."

Details: An eyewitness told RIA Novosti that Prigozhin himself also left the Southern Military District HQ with the Wagner fighters.

The outlet also posted footage purportedly showing Prigozhin leaving the headquarters in Rostov-on-Don.

RIA Novosti notes that after that, the Southern Military District resumed its permit access regime.

Background:

• On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".
• On the morning of 24 June, Prigozhin claimed that his forces had taken control of military facilities in Rostov-on-Don, including the air base, and were heading "to Moscow", and that his soldiers had shot down three Russian helicopters. Wagner mercenaries also seized military facilities in the Russian city of Voronezh.
• In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and that attempts were being made to "organise a rebellion" in the country.
• Russian media reported that the Office of the President of the Russian Federation anticipated that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group fighters would likely reach Moscow’s outskirts in the next few hours, with fighting expected near Russia’s capital. Ukrainian intelligence had information that Putin had urgently left Moscow for his residence in Valdai. A convoy of Wagner Group forces was spotted only 400 kilometres away from Moscow.
• On Saturday evening, after a conversation with Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Prigozhin announced that his mercenaries were turning their convoys around and going back to set up field camps. Later, it was reported that the criminal case against Prigozhin is to be closed and he will "go to Belarus".

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