Criminal Investigation Against Rebels Dropped as Wagner Hands Over Weapons to Russian Government

ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA - JUNE 24: Members of the Wagner Group prepare to depart from the So
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Oliver JJ Lane

Russian prosecutor claims the investigation against mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin and his allies has been dropped, meanwhile the exact whereabouts of the Wagner boss remains unknown as his troops hand over their heavy military equipment to the Russian government.

Russia appeared to have reneged on its alleged deal with warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin to give him safe passage to Belarus when the state prosecutor said on Monday the investigation was ongoing and he still faces armed rebellion charges. Yet — if the Russian government is to be believed — the bargain may still be observed, with the FSB announcing on Tuesday morning that it had now dropped its investigation, having found no charges to answer.

The Federal Security Service (FSB), which is the post-Cold War rebrand of the infamous KGB, said in a statement per the Kremlin’s wire service TASS that: “In the course of the investigation of a criminal case… on the fact of an armed rebellion, it was established that on June 24 its participants stopped actions directly aimed at committing a crime. Taking into account this and other circumstances relevant to the investigation On June 27, the investigating authority issued a decision to close the criminal case.”

This act of clemency appears to stand in contravention of President Putin’s own remarks on the attempted insurrection, made in televised statements on Saturday and Monday. Last night, the Russian leader said “treasonous” rebels would be “brought to justice”, and claimed even if Prigozhin hadn’t called off the “march for justice” on Moscow, he could have put down the rebellion anyway.

Nevertheless, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today of the bargain struck with Progozhin on Saturday that Putin “always keeps his word”.

It remains the case that, charges dropped or not, Prigozhin hasn’t been seen in public since he was driven out of the city of Rostov on Dov on Saturday in the back of an SUV. While he broke cover by publishing a new audio note to his followers on social media criticising Russia’s progress in the Ukraine war, whether he has made it to Belarus for exile or not is unknown, although Prigozhin’s private jet flew to Belarus on Tuesday morning.

As a private army, Wagner PMC was not just gunmen for hire. This was illustrated dramatically last week when the force turned on their paymasters and captured the Russian city of Rostov on Don, using their own tanks to take the streets, and their own anti-aircraft missile batteries to take down Russian government aircraft and helicopters.

While the Russian government may be content to absorb Wagner fighters into the Russian army — badly needed by the Putin regime given claims they are now losing ground in Ukraine — clearly a decision has been reached they are no longer to be trusted with what has been called “heavy military equipment”. Per a report by Russian state media, the Private Military Company is now preparing to “transfer heavy military equipment to the active units of the Russian Armed Forces.

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