ROSTOV-ON-DON/VORONEZH: Heavily armed Russian mercenaries withdrew from the southern Russian city of Rostov overnight under a deal that defused an unprecedented challenge to the authority of President Vladimir Putin and halted their rapid advance on Moscow.
Fighters of the Wagner group returned to their bases in return for guarantees for their safety and the leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, will move to Belarus, according to the agreement mediated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin has not made public comments since the deal was struck to de-escalate the crisis.
State television released excerpts on Sunday of an interview in which Putin said he was giving top priority to the conflict in Ukraine and was in constant contact with the defence ministry.
State television also said Putin would attend a meeting of Russia's Security Council this coming week, without elaborating.
Prigozhin, 62, was seen leaving the district military headquarters in Rostov - hundreds of miles south of Moscow - late on Saturday in a sport utility vehicle. His whereabouts on Sunday were not immediately clear.
Western leaders had expressed concern over the turmoil in Russia, which has the world's largest nuclear arsenal. On Sunday, the foreign ministry in Moscow said China - a key Putin ally - had expressed support for the Russian leadership.
China has not publicly commented on the mutiny. A senior Russian diplomat was in Beijing on Sunday for high level talks.
Under the deal, brokered late on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a criminal case opened against Prigozhin for armed mutiny would be dropped, Prigozhin would move to Belarus, and Wagner fighters who rallied to his cause would face no action, in recognition of their previous service to Russia.
Peskov said Lukashenko had offered to mediate, with Putin's approval, because he had known Prigozhin personally for around 20 years.
Putin said the rebellion put Russia's very existence under threat, vowing to punish those behind the revolt.
Prigozhin has for months accused Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, of incompetence and of withholding ammunition from his fighters as they battled to take Bakhmut in Ukraine.
This month, Prigozhin defied orders to sign a contract placing his troops under Defence Ministry command. He launched the rebellion on Friday after alleging that the military had killed some of his men in an air strike. The Defence Ministry denied this. — Reuters
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