Russia drops charges against Prigozhin after his forces halt march to Moscow

Moscow: After Wagner mercenary force chief Yevgeny Prigozhin decided to halt his forces' march to Moscow under deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kremlin spokesperson on Saturday said the charges against the Wagner leader who led armed mutiny against the country's military leadership would be dropped, The New York Times reported.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S Peskov said Prigozhin will go to Belarus, and the fighters who rebelled with him would not be prosecuted by law given their "service at the front."

"Wagner fighters who did not participate in the mutiny can sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense," New York Times quoted Peskov as saying.

This comes shortly after the Belarusian president stated he was in talks with Prigozhin about an agreement to "de-escalate tensions."

Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus wrote, "At 9 p.m. tonight, the Presidents spoke again by phone. The President of Belarus Lukashenko informed the President of Russia about the results of negotiations with the leader of the Wagner Group. President Putin thanked his counterpart for the work done."

According to several videos circulating on social media, Wagner's armoured vehicles started departing the military centre of Rostov-on-Don in southwest Russia on Saturday night.

However, Prighozin did not mention about it earlier whether his forces were backtracking from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don as well, where critical military and civilian buildings were seized.