On June 23, 2023, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a rebellion against the Russian government and called on military personnel to join the Wagner mutiny to punish the corrupt elite of the Ministry of Defence and the government. Prigozhin’s main targets were Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. Prigozhin released a statement saying that the war in Ukraine was started on false pretences and it only served to the rich elites of Russia. After capturing the city of Rostov and reaching the outskirts of the Moscow region, a peace deal was negotiated with the help of Belarusian President Lukashenko. On August 23, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, leaders of the Wagner Group, were killed in a suspicious plane crash.
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