March to Moscow was to stop destruction: Wagner chief after ending Russia revolt

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Monday said the purpose of the march towards Moscow was to stop the destruction of Wagner's private military company and "bring to justice those who, through their unprofessional actions, made a huge number of mistakes during the special military operation". In an audio message released on Monday, he said that the march was a demonstration of protest and not intended to overthrow power. 

Explaining his decision to turn around his march on Moscow, Prigozhin said he wanted to avoid Russian bloodshed. "We started our march because of an injustice. We went to demonstrate our protest and not to overthrow power in the country," Prigozhin said in an audio message, AL Jazeera reported. He, however, did not share any details regarding where he was or what his future plans are. 

In his new audio message, Prigozhin said that about 30 of his fighters died in the Russian army's attack on the mercenary group on Friday. He said the attack came days before Wagner was scheduled to leave its positions on June 30 and hand over equipment to the Southern Military District in Rostov. 

"Overnight, we have walked 780 kilometres (about 484 miles). Two hundred-something kilometres (about 125 miles) were left to Moscow," Prigozhin claimed in the latest audio message, as per CNN. He said, "Not a single soldier on the ground was killed." 

Read: Wagner Group mutiny: Recap of last 36 hours in Russia; is Vladimir Putin planning to flee Kremlin?

Yevgeny Prigozhin said the march stopped when the detachment "made a reconnaissance of the area, and it was obvious that at that moment a lot of blood would be shed. We felt that demonstrating what we were going to do was sufficient", according to CNN. 

He said Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has extended his hand and offered to find solutions regarding further work of Wagner Private Military Company in a legal jurisdiction, CNN reported. 

(With inputs from ANI)