Yevgeny Prigozhin, the warlord at the head of the Wagner mercenaries, has been exiled in Belarus after leading his troops to around 200km from Moscow in what appeared to be an attempt to depose Vladimir Putin.
A deal brokered by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Putin and a man Prigozhin has known for 20 years, sees the Wagner chief given safe passage to Belarus and all charges against him dropped.
A convoy of Wagner military vehicles were speeding towards Moscow on the M4 motorway and were bearing down on the capital, smashing through roadblocks, before the deal was struck.
Although Putin has clung on to power, it is unclear what the last 24 hours will mean for the future of his regime and the war in Ukraine, as one in four Russian troops fighting Zelensky’s troops are Wagner forces.
