The Russian home intelligence company mentioned on Tuesday that it was dropping “armed mutiny” legal expenses towards Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and members of his Wagner pressure, whereas the Russian Protection Ministry introduced that the mercenary group’s fighters have been getting ready handy over army tools to the military.
An amnesty for Wagner fighters who participated within the mutiny was a part of a deal brokered on Saturday between Mr. Prigozhin and President Vladimir V. Putin that introduced an finish to the insurrection, during which Wagner troops seized a army set up in southern Russia and marched to inside 125 miles of Moscow. The Wagner forces additionally shot down a number of Russian plane, resulting in the deaths of an undisclosed variety of airmen whom Mr. Putin has praised as “fallen hero pilots.”
However the announcement by the intelligence company, the Federal Safety Service, or F.S.B., made clear that Mr. Prigozhin and his associates wouldn’t face legal punishment for the violence.
“It was established that its contributors stopped their actions straight geared toward committing against the law on June 24,” the F.S.B. mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday. “Considering these and different circumstances of worth to the investigation, the investigative company resolved on June 27 to terminate the legal case.”
On the similar time, the Russian Protection Ministry introduced that Wagner troops have been getting ready handy over the group’s “heavy {hardware}” to the military, an obvious reference to army tools. The ministry didn’t present particulars.
The bulletins seemed to be an effort to handle one of many questions that has lingered for the reason that weekend mutiny: the destiny of Wagner’s closely armed forces. Mr. Putin has mentioned that every one personal armies preventing on behalf of Russia in Ukraine must come beneath the supervision of the Russian Protection Ministry by July 1, together with members of Wagner.
However there was no rapid response from the Wagner group or from Mr. Prigozhin, who has not been seen publicly since Saturday. And there have been few particulars on how a lot of Wagner’s tools can be relinquished to the Protection Ministry or on what number of Wagner fighters — whose numbers Mr. Prigozhin lately put at 25,000 — would comply with be positioned beneath the Russian Military’s command.
Mr. Prigozhin, in an audio message printed on Monday by his information service, mentioned that, earlier than the insurrection, “lower than 2 %” of his forces had been keen to comply with the brand new command construction. He additionally mentioned that he and his fighters had been getting ready to surrender their heavy tools final week, regardless of his reservations, however determined towards it after what he mentioned was a Russian Military assault on a Wagner base, a declare for which he has provided no proof.
The Wagner group has a variety of apparatus, together with tanks, a number of rocket launcher methods and plane.
It was potential that the group would search to maintain a few of their tools and transfer it to Africa, the place it operates as a personal militia and Russian proxy pressure in a number of nations. In response to the deal brokered this weekend by the president of Belarus, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Mr. Prigozhin and Wagner would have the ability to proceed their work in Africa, the place the group has confronted quite a few allegations of human rights abuses.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, mentioned that he couldn’t give particulars about what would occur to Wagner recruiting facilities inside Russia. There have been stories on Tuesday that at the very least one of many facilities in Siberia remained open.
Mr. Prigozhin has not been seen publicly since a video on Saturday night time confirmed him leaving the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, surrounded by cheering supporters. Below the deal brokered over the weekend, Mr. Prigozhin was to depart for Belarus, Russia’s neighbor and closest ally. The Kremlin additionally didn’t touch upon questions on whether or not some Wagner forces would transfer to Belarus.
