A plane linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus – where the Wagner chief is expected to live in exile from Russia.
The Russian authorities have said his Wagner army will be disarmed, but will escape prosecution over its short-lived rebellion.
The defence ministry said preparations are currently under way for the handover of heavy weapons and fighters can either join the regular army or go home.
Bill Browder was previously the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry into the country and declared a threat to national security for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies. He is one of Mr Putin’s fiercest critics and the head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign. He told Newsday: “We should never underestimate Yevgeny Prigozhin…he is the meanest, toughest, most murderous mercenary boss probably in the world right now and so he has armies of people not just in Russia but in 17 countries across Africa. This man is a force to be reckoned with and so the idea that Putin somehow has the power to eliminate him…is a gross overestimation of Putin….Prigozhin will remain a factor and a player.”