Members of Wagner Group examine a automotive in a avenue of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Saturday.

Stringer/AFP by way of Getty Images

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Stringer/AFP by way of Getty Images

Members of Wagner Group examine a automotive in a avenue of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Saturday.

Stringer/AFP by way of Getty Images

MOSCOW — The head of the Wagner mercenary group mentioned his forces have been ending a march on the Russian capital after demanding the resignation of the nation’s high protection officers over alleged failures within the conflict in Ukraine.

In a press release to his Telegram social media account, Yevgeny Prigozhin mentioned his fighters had led a “march for justice” over the previous 24 hours that noticed them journey from the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don to the outskirts of Moscow

“The whole time, not one drop of blood of our fighters was spilled,” Prigozhin mentioned. “But now the moment has arrived when blood could be spilt.”

To keep away from such a state of affairs, Prigozhin mentioned he had ordered his forces to “turn our columns around and go in the opposite direction back to a field camp as planned.”

The sudden about-face appeared to hit pause on a political disaster that grew out of months of infighting between Russia’s high brass and Prigozhin over the state of the army marketing campaign in Ukraine.

In defusing the disaster, the Kremlin additionally appeared to get an help from its ally — Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko’s press workplace mentioned, with the Kremlin’s permission, that the Belarusian chief had carried out negotiations with Prigozhin “throughout the entire day” aimed toward deescalating the feud between Wagner and the Russian army.

“As a result, they came to an agreement on the unacceptability of the start of bloody battles on Russian territory,” the assertion mentioned.