Why Prigozhin Halted His Advance on Moscow: The Telegraph

Russian intelligence services threatened to harm the families of the leaders of the Wagner private military company while its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was on his way to Moscow and had not yet called off his advance. This is reported by The Telegraph, citing security sources from Great Britain.

Moreover, according to the data, Wagner had only 8,000 fighters, not the declared 25,000, which means that it would likely suffer defeat in any attempt to capture the Russian capital.

The Telegraph's article also mentions that Russian President Vladimir Putin will now try to integrate Wagner fighters into the Russian military forces. Additionally, the analysis touches upon the mystery of why Prigozhin halted his rebellious march to Moscow when he was only a few hours away from the capital.

So far, there are only speculations regarding what official deal was struck between the sides, if indeed such a thing occurred. The Kremlin announced on Saturday that Prigozhin would go to Belarus in exchange for a pardon for the charge of treason. There has been no comment from Prigozhin regarding the Kremlin's offer.

It is also unclear whether Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will continue to serve or be dismissed, as Prigozhin had demanded. Recall that Putin's former chef, Wagner leader Prigozhin, had claimed that Shoigu had decided to destroy his grouping. He called on the people to rise up and put an end to Shoigu's "impunity."