Kremlin faces 'deeply unstable' situation: Analysts

Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says that while Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny may have fizzled out, it has left the Kremlin facing a "deeply unstable" situation, reports BBC.

"The rebellion exposed the weakness of the Russian security forces and demonstrated Putin’s inability to use his forces in a timely manner to repel an internal threat and further eroded his monopoly on force," analysts at ISW said.

Troops from Prigozhin's Wagner mercenary group started leaving the city of Rostov-on-Don, less than 24 hours after attempting a rebellion. Earlier, the group's chief said he had told his fighters to return to Ukraine to avoid bloodshed, reports BBC.

Late on Saturday, Prigozhin, the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, was seen leaving the district military headquarters. The rebellion by the mercenary group failed. But its adverse effect on Putin's government and the Russian war effort in Ukraine will be inevitable, the analysts said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has survived the immediate threat to his power after Prigozhin agreed to end his mutiny against the Russian army. Wagner troops' march to Moscow was called off late Saturday night after negotiations with Putin's ally and Belarus' leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Prigozhin also agreed to leave Russia for Belarus, and the Kremlin has said it will not pursue punishment against him or Wagner fighters. The deal de-escalates a huge security crisis for Russia, reports BBC.

Putin had even warned of civil war on Saturday in a national address, blasting Prigozhin's actions as "betrayal" and "treason."

The situation around the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don was calm and street traffic resumed, the RIA state news agency said on Sunday. In a video on the agency's Telegram messaging app, which it said was taken in the city of Rostov-on-Don, a man was sweeping a street and cars were moving along another street, Hindustan Times reports.

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