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Earlier, Putin had threatened punishment for those who joined the movement in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Moscow had braced for the arrival of forces from the Wagner Group, a private army that has been fighting alongside regular Russian troops in Ukraine, by erecting checkpoints with armoured vehicles and troops on the city’s southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor had urged motorists to stay off some roads.
But Prigozhin announced that while his men were just 200 kilometres (120 miles) from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid shedding Russian blood. He did not say whether the Kremlin had responded to his demand to oust Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The criminal case against Prigozhin would be dropped, Tass, a media outlet run by the Russian government reported.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, also announced that Prigozhin would “go to Belarus” and that Wagner soldiers would not be prosecuted news agency reported via a Telegram post.
The announcement followed a statement from the office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko saying he had negotiated a deal with Prigozhin after discussing the issue with Putin.
Prigozhin agreed to halt the advance in a proposed settlement including security guarantees for Wagner troops, Lukashenko’s office said, without elaborating.
Putin had vowed harsh consequences for organizers of the armed uprising led by his onetime protege, who brought his forces out of Ukraine, seized a key military facility in southern Russia and advanced toward Moscow.
In a televised speech to the nation, Putin called the rebellion a betrayal and treason. All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment, Putin said. The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.
It wasn’t immediately clear what concessions, if any, Putin may have made to persuade Prigozhin to halt his march. If he accedes to Prigozhin’s demand to oust Shoigu, Prigozhin would emerge from the crisis as a clear winner in a major blow to Putin’s authority. If Prigozhin agrees not to press the demand, Putin could award him with more lucrative government contracts like those on which he has built his fortune in the past.
The dramatic developments came exactly 16 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s largest conflict since World War II, which has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble.
Ukrainians hoped the Russian infighting would create opportunities for its army to take back territory seized by Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow was suffering full-scale weakness and that Kyiv was protecting Europe from the spread of Russian evil and chaos.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, called for Prigozhin’s arrest Friday night after he declared the armed rebellion.
Prigozhin said earlier Saturday that his fighters would not surrender, as we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.
Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland, he said in an audio message on his Telegram channel. Prigozhin said he had 25,000 troops under his command and urged the army not to offer resistance.
(With AP Inputs)
