The Wall Street Journal reports:

A day after Wagner’s mutiny showed the unexpected fragility of President Vladimir Putin’s regime, all the main players in Russia’s worst political crisis in decades stayed out of sight—leaving Russians, and the world, to wonder whether the drama was really over.

Key unanswered questions include the future of Wagner’s 25,000 heavily armed troops, of the paramilitary group’s owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and of Russia’s military leadership, which failed to stop his rapid advance toward Moscow. The details of agreements brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to halt looming bloodshed have yet to be made public.

The whereabouts of Prigozhin, who according to the Kremlin had agreed to relocate to Belarus, were also unknown on Sunday. His company told a Russian TV network that he “will answer questions when he will have access to proper communications.” Flying Russian flags, large Wagner columns on Sunday were driving south on the Moscow-Rostov highway—away from the capital and away from Belarus.

Putin himself made no public appearances and issued no remarks about the conditions under which the rebellion ended. The Russian minister of defense and the head of Russia’s armed forces, whose removal was Prigozhin’s key demand, remained out of sight, too, amid growing speculation that they may be replaced, perhaps as soon as Monday.

“The entire world has seen that Russia is on the brink of the most acute political crisis,” Sergei Markov, a former Putin adviser and a political analyst in Moscow, said on Telegram Sunday. “Yes, the putsch failed now. But putsches have fundamental reasons. And if the reasons remain, a putsch will happen again. And it could be successful.” [Continue reading…]

The Guardian reports:

Yevgeny Prigozhin left the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don late Saturday to a rapturous reception that resembled the departure of a rockstar, with crowds of men gathering around his car.

The extraordinary scenes underlined some of the broader support Prigozhin appears to enjoy among sections of the Russian population, despite Vladimir Putin calling him a traitor whom he vowed to “liquidate”.

One video showed residents in the city cheering as Prigozhin’s car stopped when one person approached. The smiling warlord, flanked by a convoy of armoured vehicles, then proceeded to shake the man’s hand.

“Take care of yourselves,” shouted another woman.

Some retreating Wagner group troops also tooted their horns and fired into the air, followed by loud applause from the public. [Continue reading…]