Amid recent commotion around a possible coup in Russia by the Wagner private military organization, attention has turned to the shadowy group and its leader, a longtime affiliate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After appearing to have launched an armed rebellion to force a change at the helm of Russia’s military, the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Saturday announced that Wagner forces would halt their advance on Moscow to avoid bloodshed.
Prigozhin’s audio announcement on his Telegram channel appeared to defuse a dramatically escalating crisis and the most significant challenge to Putin’s leadership in his 23 years in power….