"During the investigation of the criminal case initiated by the investigative department of the Federal Security Service of Russia on June 23 ... on the fact of an armed rebellion, it was established that on June 24 its participants stopped actions directly aimed at committing a crime. Taking into account this and other circumstances relevant to the investigation, on June 27, the investigating authority issued a decision to close the criminal case," the FSB said in a statement.
Commenting on the development, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that promises that were given to avoid the worst outcome during an attempted armed mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group private military company, are being kept.
"I repeat once again, the will of the president was to prevent the development of events according to the worst scenario. There was a certain agreement to avoid this worst-case scenario, and there were certain promises from the president, certain guarantees from the president. The agreements are being implemented," Peskov told reporters.
On Friday, June 23, forces of the Wagner Group (PMC) seized the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, following accusations leveled against the Russian Ministry of Defense for allegedly striking the group's camps. Both the Russian military and the Federal Security Service have denied the allegations.
On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that he had spent the entire day negotiating with Yevgeny Prigozhin, as agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a result of the talks, the Wagner group leader accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of his troops in Russia and take measures to de-escalate the situation.
Putin guaranteed that the Wagner group fighters would have the opportunity to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, return home, or move to Belarus.