The private military company, founded and lead by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, called for a rebellion against the Russian Army, with the group's troops seizing control of the city of Rostov-on-Don and reportedly taking control of military facilities in Voronezh.

The Wagner Group then started advancing towards Moscow, however turned around 200 kilometres from the capital to "avoid bloodshed" according to Prigozhin.

Russian media report that Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin, which led to the de-escalation of the situation.

In a statement issued prior to the de-escalation the Russian Boxing Federation, of whom International Boxing Association President Umar Kremlev is a former secretary general, called for people to rally round Putin.

"At this difficult time for the life of our country, the leadership of the Russian Boxing Federation considers it necessary to declare its position, turn to the boxing family, our partners and friends," the organisation said in a statement, as reported by TASS, Russia's official state news agency.

"We fully support the President of our country, who appealed to the Russians to put aside all strife in this difficult period, when the future of our country and our people is being decided. 

"We call on everyone to rally around the President of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. 

"We are sure that in the near future the situation will return to normal, the life of our society will return to normal, we call on the entire boxing community, all Russian people to remain calm and trust only official sources of information."

Earlier, the Wagner Group were urged to "prevent bloodshed" in Rostov, by the city's football team, who play in the Russian Premier League.

Writing on its Instagram account FC Rostov President Vladimirovich Arutyunyants wrote: "Nowadays, it is important to remember that we are all one nation. Together we've been through a lot and only together we can overcome even more.

"It is at moments like these that we need to rally around our President and give a strong resistance to the enemies of our fatherland!

"We can't afford to be weak and clash with each other!

"Be prudent, prevent bloodshed and destruction on our Russian soil.

"We need to think not only about today, but also about the future - about our children and grandchildren.

"I separately want to address the citizens of Rostov: do not panic.

"The most important thing now is to remain calm and not commit thoughtless actions."

Accusations have been posted on Prigozhin’s Telegram channel against Russia’s military leadership according to Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

In response Government agency the Federal Security Service (FSB) has started criminal proceedings, while the Center for Public Relations of the FSB called on fighters of the private military company not to follow Prigozhin’s orders and to take measures to detain him.

Putin used a television speech to describe the actions of the Wagner Group as "betrayal and treason."

In response to the Wagner’s Group advancement towards Moscow, the city’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that Monday (June 26) will be "a non-working day" and has urged residents to avoid travelling around the city as much as possible.

Earlier in the day Sobyanin cancelled all public events in the city, including a Sports Film Festival dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of Moscow sports, which was due to begin tomorrow.

The 10,000 Steps to Life event in Moscow, which opens walking routes and provides opportunities to take part in healthy lifestyle training, and was due to take place on Tuesday (June 27), to coincide with Youth Day, has also been cancelled.