Vladimir Putin has admitted that Russia’s security services “stopped a civil war” during the mutiny launched by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries – whose wages and bonuses Moscow has funded to the tune of £800m over the past year.
His remarks came as the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, confirmed that the Wagner chief had arrived in his country as part of the last-minute deal that ended the extraordinary attempted coup. Mr Lukashenko said that Mr Progozhin and some of his troops were welcome to stay “for some time” at their own expense.
