Russia withdraws sedition charges and says Wagner will hand over arms

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Russia dropped charges against participants in the Wagner paramilitary armed uprising and said the group had agreed to hand over their weapons.

The announcements on Tuesday signal progress toward resolving the standoff in the wake of a deal between the Kremlin and Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

According to state newswire RIA Novosti, Russia’s main security service, the FSB, said it has closed its investigation into the weekend uprising because “it has been determined that its participants carried out activities directly aimed at committing crimes”. “.

While the Kremlin said shortly after the failed coup that the charges would be dropped, they remained in force in an apparent bid to pressure Wagner into complying with the terms of the deal.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said that Wagner was preparing to hand over the weapon to the military.

The announcements came within minutes after President Vladimir Putin urged the group’s fighters to join forces, stand down or leave the country.

“Preparations are underway for the transfer of heavy military equipment by Wagner PMC to active units of the Armed Forces of Russia,” the ministry said on Tuesday.

Wagner did not immediately confirm whether he would surrender his weapons.

Prigozhin claimed on Monday that Wagner had previously planned to hand over his equipment to the Defense Ministry – until Russia’s military attacked one of the group’s bases in airstrikes last week. The ministry said Prigozhin’s claims were baseless and that no attacks had been carried out.

On Monday evening, Putin delivered an angry televised address in his first public appearance since the Kremlin agreed a ceasefire to end Prigozhin’s march on Moscow on Saturday.

In his comments, Putin said that Wagner’s leaders had “betrayed the country and the people who were with them”, adding that most of the group’s fighters were “patriots of Russia” who were “used” by his command. Was.