Deal off? Charges against Wagner warlord haven’t been dropped, Russian media reports

Russia’s criminal case against Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin remains open, in spite of an agreement found with the Kremlin which would allow the renegade warlord to avoid prosecution for leading a mutiny against President Vladimir Putin’s regime, according to media reports.

“The criminal case against Prigozhin has not been terminated,” Russian state-owned newswire Ria Novosti reported Monday, quoting a “source in the Prosecutor General’s Office,” and confirming previous Russian media reports, including from the other major Russian state-owned newswire, TASS.

Russia’s domestic intelligence service, the FSB, opened a criminal investigation into Prigozhin “for the organization of armed insurrection” on Friday evening, as the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group declared war on the Russian military establishment.

The insurrection ended Saturday evening, with some Wagner mercenaries about 200 kilometers from Moscow, after a deal was struck between the Kremlin, Minsk and Wagner under which all the group’s fighters involved in the mutiny would escape prosecution, and Prigozhin would leave for Belarus.

Prigozhin has not communicated publicly since then, and his current whereabouts remain unknown. He has not been seen since leaving the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to a rock-star reception on Saturday night.