MOSCOW Mutinous Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday he had ordered his fighters, who had been advancing on Moscow, to turn around and return to their bases in order to avoid bloodshed.

Prigozhin said his fighters had advanced to within 200 km (124 miles) of Moscow in the last 24 hours.

(This story has been corrected to say 'advanced to within 200 km', not 'advanced 200 km,' in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)