Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has said that his troops are turning back from their advance on Moscow to avoid bloodshed.
Audio messages released on Saturday evening have, according to Reuters, shown the leader has agreed to stop the movement of troops towards the Russian capital after their day long journey north.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Putin, claimed on Saturday that he had brokered a deal to de-escalate the situation.
Lukashenko claims an agreement has been reached that would “guarantee the safety of Wagner fighters” is on the table.
Neither the Wagner Group nor the Kremlin has commented on the claims.
Wagner’s forces were within four hours of Moscow when the turnaround news came. The events had sparked panic in the capital with residents told not to journey around the city.
Earlier on Saturday, Vladimir Putin’s whereabouts was thrown into question after an aircraft belonging to the presidency was spotted flying from Moscow to St Petersburg.
His spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied Mr Putin had fled.
