prigozhin accused russian defense minister sure gate shoigu of ordering a rocket strike on wagner s camps. in ukraine, but hours later after reportedly traveling some 120 miles outside of moscow, the wagner group leader ordered his forces to halt their march on the capital city, and return to their camps. in a post on telegram, prigozhin said the move was done in order to avoid russian bloodshed. now, this follows an announcement from belarus that the russian ally and neighbor had negotiated a deal to de-escalate the situation. kremlin spokesperson dimitri peskov provided some details of the compromise. russia s criminal case against prigozhin, that would be closed and he would go into exile and remain in belarus. moreover, wagner fighters who participated in today s offense will not be prosecuted. now, before we begin our reporting coverage for the hour, we want to give you some more context on this group, the wagner group. it is important to russia, its importance to the fi
jon: it is perhaps the most serious challenge to the vladimir putin s authority, although at this moment it appears the challenge has edged. yevgeny prigozhin has turned his forces around and is said to be heading back to belarus. let s check in with our greg palkot who s covering the story from that part of the world. greg. reporter: jon, it looks like we re back on the brink in russia just across the border from where we are right now in kyiv, but it also looks like a lot of damage was done. it was the biggest risk to russian president vladimir putin s more than two decades of rule, attempted coup, an armed uprising. the man responsible, evgeni pregoes telephone, complaining friday about the war, then pulling his fighters out of ukraine and into the russian city of rostov-on-don with where, with little trouble, they took over the place. and, yes, prigozhin sent forces towards moscow, within 120 miles, the kremlin bracing for an attack, vladimir putin branding the actions
this after president putin promised decisive action against what he calls treason. hello, everyone, and welcome to the a special hour of fox news live. i m arthel neville. hi, eric. eric: hello, everyone, i m eric shawn. fast-breaking developments that have a lot of people wondering what is really going on? some say it was a challenge to vladimir putin s decades-long grip on power. the head of the wagner group, a longtime kremlin ally, of course, but he s been increasingly recently critical of russia s military in recent weeks. he has said his forces seized key russian facilities near the ukrainian border and advanced farther north to other strategic cities, inching closer to moscow. but now those mercenaries holding fast, told to return to their field bases back in ukraine. general jack keane on fox news earlier before the order to the halt that march. and this is a surprise. there s nothing planned about this in terms of russian intelligence i m aware of and its ability
this has been one of the most confusing and dramatic moments and recent russian history. we are very much still finding out how this armed rebellion came together. what the u.s. knew about it, what the fallout will be for russia and ukraine. frankly, the rest of the globe. on friday, the standoff began when the leader of a russian private military group posted a series of recorded video and audio messages on telegram. messages that under mind jet ross is justification for the war in ukraine and called for our march for justice. against the russian military. the man who posted these messages, the name you have certainly heard a lot through the past few days, yevgeny prigozhin. he is the leader of the russian private mercenary army known as the wagner group. a group that has been on the frontlines of russia s war in ukraine. now the wagner mercenaries are known to be some of the most brutal forces fighting in ukraine. they have recruited fighters in russian prisons, they have s