China's foreign minister Qin Gang called upon Russia's deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing on Sunday to discuss "issues of common concern". This is the first public meeting of diplomats between both nations since the time when mutinous mercenaries threatened to storm the Russian capital, reported news agency AFP. China's foreign ministry in a statement said that Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Rudenko in Beijing and exchanged views with him on China-Russia relations. The statement added that the two also discussed "international and regional issues of common concern."
Meanwhile, tensions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin subsided relatively peacefully after the two parties reached a deal with Prigozhin to go into exile and sounded the retreat. As per the deal announced by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Prigozhin will go to neighbouring Belarus and charges of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped, reported the news agency Associated Press. It also said that it would not prosecute fighters who took part in the rebellion while those who did not join in were to be offered contracts by the defence ministry.
Putin’s “highest goal” was “to avoid bloodshed and internal confrontation with unpredictable results,” said Peskov as Prigozhin and his forces were allowed to go free.
After a brief span of rebellion and turning in against Russia, Prigozhin, who had vowed to topple the Russian military, said that troops were ‘turning back’ to avoid spilling blood.
According to a report from RT Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that he had arranged a deal whereby Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin would abandon his mutiny in exchange for “security guarantees” for his fighters.