Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has confirmed that Russia's security service has raided the military company's HQ in St Petersburg, with reports suggesting around £38million in cash was seized.
Prigozhin, who will move to neighbouring Belarus as part of a deal to end his rebellion, claimed the money which was found by Vladimir Putin's Federal Security Service troops belongs to the mercenary group.
The cash was reportedly found stashed inside a van and two buses. Prigozhin has not confirmed how much money was seized but Russian media outlets reported it was around £4billion rubles, or £38million.
Prigozhin explained in an audio message on Telegram that the money is used to cover compensation payments of killed Wagner soldiers, Daily Mail reports.
"Wagner has been operating for the past 10 years using only cash - as agreed in our contract. I fully adhere to it," he said.
It comes after it was announced Prigozhin will move to Belarus as part of the deal to end his rebellion, which will result in criminal charges against him being dropped, the Kremlin claims.
Troops who supported the 62-year old former friend of Putin in the uprising will avoid any prosecution too, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said. He added that troops who weren't involved will instead be offered contracts by the Defence Ministry.
Earlier Prigozhin said that while his troops are just 120 miles from Moscow, he decided to turn them back to avoid “shedding Russian blood”.
He said he "gave the order to turn back because of the risk of blood being spilled".
"We’re turning around our convoys and going in the opposite direction," Prigozhin continued.
In a televised speech to the nation, Putin called the rebellion a “betrayal” and “treason”.
“All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment,” Putin said. “The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.”
In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, senior Russia analyst Oleg Ignatov from the International Crisis Group - an independent organisation that works to prevent wars - described the events of the past few days as a “coup d’etat” that lays bare the “weakness of the system that Vladmir Putin built”.
"This crisis has totally destroyed all the narrative about domestic stability, that Putin controls everything," he said.
"It shows that he can lose control. It shows the limits of his powers."
Mr Ignatov added: “You can see that nobody was prepared for it. The security, the presidential administration, the Russian government, they were not prepared for this.
"Everyone in the Kremlin and security felt that Prigozhin was a Putin guy. He got everything he had because of Putin. He earned his fortune because of Putin. They didn’t do anything to prevent this situation. It’s only now that they can see that Putin didn’t actually control him."
