Wagner mercenary boss and fighters vacate Russian military HQ, Rostov-on-Don

Wagner group fighters have left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and are headed back to their field camps, the regional governor said on Saturday.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, could be seen leaving the district military headquarters in the city of Rostov-on-Don in an SUV in a video posted on Telegram by the Russian state news agency RIA.

Prigozhin had earlier agreed to end a rebellion against Moscow’s military leadership after mediation from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and the Kremlin said he would be moving to Belarus under the deal they had agreed.

Dozens of residents in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don were chanting “Wagner! Wagner!” outside the military headquarters that had been captured earlier by the rebel mercenary group.

As night fell, dozens of locals gathered near the military office to express support for Wagner, after its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had said he would stop the group’s march on Moscow and turn back.