Wagner group to hand over heavy weapons as FSB drops mutiny charges
The Wagner mercenary group will be disarmed but will escape prosecution over its short-lived rebellion on Saturday, Russian authorities say, BBC reports.
Preparations are under way for the group to hand over its heavy weapons and equipment to the Russian army, the defence ministry said.
Criminal charges have also been dropped against those who took part in the mutiny, the FSB security service said. It comes after the Wagner revolt rocked Russia.
On Saturday, mercenary troops led by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin took over the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, marched on Moscow and shot down Russian military helicopters and a plane on their way.
Their mutiny was later aborted after a deal was struck with the help of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Under the terms of the deal, Prigozhin was expected to head to Belarus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Wagner had been fully funded by the defence ministry and state budget, receiving 86.262bn roubles ($1bn) from May 2022 to May 2023 alone for "salaries and bonuses".
He added that the authorities would investigate how the money paid to Wagner and its leader was spent.
Earlier, a private jet, linked to Prigozhin, landed in the capital Minsk. It is not clear yet whether he was on board, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had no information on Prigozhin's whereabouts.
Meanwhile the FSB security force also announced that the case against the Wagner fighters - who were facing prosecution for armed insurrection - was now closed because the mutineers had stopped short of actually committing a crime.
Its fighters can either join the regular army, go home or head for Belarus, Mr Putin said, adding that the fighters were mostly "patriots" who had been misled into a criminal adventure.
The latest announcements came after an angry speech by President Putin on Monday evening, in which he accused the mutiny leaders of wanting "to see Russia choked in bloody strife".
Mr Putin later told Russian troops in Moscow they had prevented a "civil war" and held a minute's silence for those killed.
