The main protagonists of the power struggle that almost plunged Russia into a civil war on the weekend are nowhere to be seen.
Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin were last seen separately on Saturday.
On that morning, as events were quickly unfolding and a march on Moscow by Wagner Group mercenaries appeared inevitable, Putin issued a televised statement in which he addressed Russians and described Prigozhin’s move as a “stab in the back of our country and our people”.
The Russian President went on to compare the attempted coup to the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, “when the country was fighting in World War I, but its victory was stolen”.
In the late afternoon of Saturday, Prigozhin ordered his troops to stand down and turn away from Moscow to avoid “bloodshed”.
The catering tycoon then made his last public appearance in Rostov-on-Don, where hours prior his troops had reportedly taken over the Russian regional military command.
Greeted by many locals, the man posed for pictures and shook hands from the back of a car as he paraded alongside Wagner’s armoured vehicles leaving Rostov.
Following the negotiations, reportedly brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, which led to Wagner troops standing down, it was announced Prigozhin would relocate to Minsk, being effectively banished from his country.
In exchange for his exile, neither Prigozhin nor his troops will face a criminal case.
But whether the man, once dubbed Putin’s Chef due to his catering business and close relations with the Russian President, has arrived in Belarus hasn’t been confirmed.
Neither Prigozhin nor Putin have been seen since June 24. As early as Saturday, rumours started to swirl the Russian President had fled Moscow after flight tracking showed two presidential planes leaving the city.
But his press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, denied these reports, saying the leader remained in the Kremlin.
On Sunday, the presidential palace released an interview showing Putin speaking about “stepping up efforts” in Ukraine and how “confident” he was in his forces.
However, this video is widely believed to have been recorded a few days prior to the attempted coup.
Similarly, no new public appearances of Prigozhin have been reported since Saturday evening, but a Wagner-linked Telegram channel called Grey Zone issued an eerie photo of the warlord on Sunday.
The picture showed the man shushing the camera, with a caption reading: “Plans love silence”.
This motto is believed to have been originally coined in Kyiv to encourage silence about Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
While the Wagner Group chief is normally very active on social media, he has been radio silent for more than a day, since he instructed his troops to stand down.
Prigozhin’s press team said in a statement that he cannot be reached at the moment – but insisted he will answer all questions when he gets in touch.
The statement said: “He says ‘hi’ to everyone and will answer questions when he will get in touch normally.”
