Wagner chief smiles in selfies as he leaves Russia for exile after Putin bust-up

25 June 2023 , 10:15

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Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, right, sits inside a military vehicle posing for a selfie photo with a local civilian on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Saturday, June 24 (Image: AP)

Yevgeny Prigozhin the leader of the Wagner Group was pictured smiling and taking selfies with the public as he was forced into “exile”.

The 62-year-old looked unphased at the failure of his armed march on Moscow yesterday as he returned to the Wagner base of operations at Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.

As Wagner mercenaries left Rostov on Sunday crowds chanted “Wagner! Wagner!” as the motley assortment of war criminals moved out of the town they had captured on their way to Moscow.

Meanwhile Prigozhin left Rostov-on-Don headed in a different direction, to begin his Kremlin-ordered exile in the neighbouring country of Belarus.

The warlord was ferried through the streets in a black 4x4 stopping to take pics with smiling locals. One man reached out to shake his hand - raising a toothy grin from the warlord.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin did not appear phased by his impending exile (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Wagner Group tanks daubed with the red “Z” symbols of Russia’s invasion forces also provided a backdrop for locals to snap pictures for social media.

Residents turned out to cheer for the Wagner troops as they made their way through the streets of the city they had captured from the Russian military just hours earlier.

Yesterday it looked like the Russian regime could be about to collapse as Prigozhin and thousands of his mercenaries got to within 120 miles of the Kremlin.

Then in a shock announcement the warlord, known as “Putin’s chef” revealed he was turning the 400-vehicle armoured column around and accepting exile in Belarus.

A local poses with Wagner mercenaries as they prepare to leave Rostov-on-Don on Saturday June 24 (ARKADY BUDNITSKY/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

In an audio message to his troops, he ordered them to return to their bases to "avoid bloodshed".

“We’re turning around our convoys and going in the opposite direction," he said in a voice message

Despite warding off a full-blown military coup Putin’s grip on power remains looking decidedly shaky - allowing the man he had previously accused of “treason” to retire in peace to a neighbouring country.

Prigozhin’s whereabouts today (Sunday) remain unknown, he was last seen posing with residents in Rostov-on-Don.

He claimed that he was marching on Moscow in frustration over a missile attack from Russian army forces killed some of his Wagner troops.

The Wagner boss was last seen in Rostov-on-Don amid cheering crowds (AP)

It is not clear whether his demands, that defence minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov be fired, have been met by the Kremlin.

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A number of helicopters were shot down during the mutiny, with the Kremlin claiming at least 15 people have been killed.

Putin’s private plane was seen leaving Moscow as the Wagner troops approached the capital, with residents being told to stay indoors and hastily-constructed roadblocks thrown up to try and slow the advance.

The Kremlin insists that Putin is still in the capital but in a social media message president Zelensky said he was sure the tyrant was "no longer in Moscow."

He said: "The man from the Kremlin is obviously very afraid and probably hiding somewhere, not showing himself."

Joe Smith