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US spy agencies picked up signs days ago that mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was preparing to rise up against Russia’s defense establishment, US media reported on Saturday.

The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will leave Russia and won’t face charges after calling off his troops’ advance on Saturday, Moscow said, easing Russia’s most serious security crisis in decades.

The United States and its allies held close consultations but publicly stayed on the sidelines Saturday as officials waited to see how the armed revolt by longtime Kremlin insider Yevgeny Prigozhin and his private Wagner army would play out.

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Military vehicles take up positions in Rostov

The head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said overnight he had taken control of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don as part of an attempt to oust Russia’s defence minister. The 62-year-old’s open challenge to Moscow’s military comes after months of growing tensions over the conduct of the war in Ukraine.

Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called for an armed uprising to topple Russia’s military establishment on Friday, prompting President Vladimir Putin to denounce the mercenaries’ actions as “treason” and Russian authorities to call for Prigozhin’s arrest. British intelligence said early Saturday that some of the group’s forces were heading towards Moscow. Follow FRANCE 24’s reports from the field and analysis.

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‘This is a criminal adventuristic campaign. It is equivalent to armed mutiny.’

A year after the US Supreme Court decision overturning federal abortion protections, President Joe Biden has issued an executive order aimed at strengthening access to contraception.