JABAR EKSPRES – Road traffic restrictions imposed following the Wagner paramilitary group’s armed uprising against Moscow have been lifted, Russia Federal Road Transport Agency (Rosavtodor) told media on Sunday.
“The restrictions have been lifted,” Rosavtodor announced, as quoted by Russian news agency TASS.
The Russian government previously imposed road traffic restrictions after Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced that he would deploy his troops to Moscow.
The Kremlin – as the Russian government is known – responded to the announcement by increasing security measures in various regions of the country.
But when they were 200 kilometers from Moscow, Prigozhin later said that his fighters had decided to withdraw to avoid bloodshed in Russia.
READ ALSO : On Wagner, Zelenskyy Says Russia Can Pay for its Crimes
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he had held talks with Wagner’s leader. According to him, Prigozhin accepted the de-escalation deal.
Wagner on Friday (June 23) accused Russian forces of attacking its fighters, prompting the paramilitary group to leave Ukraine for the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
In response, the Federal Security Service in Russia opened a criminal case against Wagner on charges of “armed rebellion”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Wagner’s rebellion an act of “treason”.
However, the Kremlin announced that Russia would neither punish nor criminalize the members of Wagner’s army who took part in the armed rebellion.
