MINSK, June 27. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the private military company Wagner, had agreed to drop his demand for the resignation of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

Lukashenko said Prigozhin also had dropped the demand to fire the chief of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov. According to Lukashenko the Wagner founder made the decision when they held talks as the attempted Wagner mutiny was underway.

Lukashenko said Prigozhin told him, "Alexander Grigorievich, I won’t demand from the president that he surrender Shoigu and Gerasimov," the BelTA news agency reported.

The Belarusian president said he had replied, "Very well. It’s a very good move. In these circumstances, one shouldn’t escalate the situation by demanding something that can’t be done."

In other details of the talks, Lukashenko said Prigozhin had agreed to halt the march of Wagner’s convoy after 4 pm. The president said blood would have been spilled if Wagner fighters had reached defense lines.

In an effort to prevent bloodshed, Lukashenko said he had asked Prigozhin to hold talks with Russian Federal Security Service Director Alexander Bortnikov. That conversation did eventually take place, the Belarusian president said.

On the evening of June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Telegram that his units had been attacked, putting the blame for that on the country’s military leadership. The Defense Ministry said the allegations were false. Wagner units that backed Prigozhin started marching on Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia, and on Moscow. The Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, started a criminal investigation into a call for an armed mutiny.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation, describing the PMC Wagner’s actions as treason.

Lukashenko, in coordination with Putin, then held talks with Prigozhin, following which PMC Wagner turned back its troops and moved them to their field camps. The Kremlin said that PMC Wagner fighters would not be prosecuted, given their combat merits. The investigation into the armed mutiny was dropped.