Putin's former friend issues warning as Russian leader prepares ‘very dramatic’ move

The offensive has since been halted, with Prigozhin retreating to exile in Belarus, but pressure remains on Putin, who is not experienced with dealing with such threats from within.

Speaking on GB News, a former friend of the under-fire Kremlin boss has warned the world that this is not necessarily good news.

Bill Browder told Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster: “His strategy which has worked pretty well in the past 23 years blew up in his face.

“Even though Prigozhin didn’t succeed, the damage he has done to Putin is immeasurable. Even though he didn’t succeed, Putin is a strong man, a dictator, who now looks weak.

“It’s difficult to recover from that in a country where weakness is despised.

“Putin is now in a terrible place. Being president of Russia is the most profitable enterprise there is, every bad guy wants that, Prigozhin has showed there is a chink in the armour.

“Putting that message out there, Putin has to do something very dramatic to scare everybody back into their place because that is how he has governed Russia in the past 23 years, by scaring people.”

It comes as Rishi Sunak announced the UK is in support of international mechanisms that “hold individual mercenaries in the Wagner Group to account for violations of international law”.

Rishi Sunak’s comments came as SNP Stewart Malcolm McDonald called on the Government to “fund collecting evidence of Wagner Group war crimes that have been committed across the world”.

The Foreign Secretary earlier said the Wagner mutiny in Russia was an “unprecedented” attack on Vladimir Putin’s authority that exposed “cracks” in domestic support for the war in Ukraine.

James Cleverly said the “mask slipped” when warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin “drove a coach and horses” through the Russian president’s case for the invasion during their bitter row.

Sunak said: “We have consistently condemned the Wagner Group and we carefully monitor their actions in Ukraine and the wider world, as (Mr McDonald) mentions.

“We have designated both the Wagner Group and its leader under our sanctions regime already and we also support international mechanisms which hold individual mercenaries in the Wagner Group to account for violations of international law.

“But I also reassure him that we are working very closely with our partners to counter the malign use of such proxies by Russia and more generally across the continent.”