Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said he gave the order to return convoys headed to Moscow back to their bases in order to avoid bloodshed.

Belarus President Lukashenko, acting with Putin, said he spoke to Prigozhin and put an agreement on the table that would guarantee the safety of Wagner fighters.

To me, this sounds more like a deescalation than a solution. Perhaps Prigozhin thought that other wings of the Russian military would join him or maybe he’s just playing for time. Until the weapons are laid down, this looks more like a standoff. It’s hard to imagine there’s any way to return to last week’s status quo in Russia, whatever that is.

At the moment , I’d say the risks of a weekend regime change in Russia just plummeted but it’s still only Saturday.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.