Vladimir Putin’s strongman picture has been shattered by the humiliating climbdown he took to defuse an ‘armed mutiny’ this weekend.

The Russian president dropped prices towards Yevgeny Prigozhin and his 25,000 Wagner mercenaries simply hours after accusing them of ‘treason’ for storming a metropolis on house soil and marching towards Moscow.

Instead of life in jail, Prigozhin has been exiled to Belarus, and his guns-for-hire have been allowed again to the frontline in Ukraine.

Their return might come as a shock to Russia’s common troops, who’re stated to face on-the-spot execution for deserting their posts.

Putin’s spokesperson admitted the confrontation had change into so ‘unpredictable’ that the necessity to ‘avoid bloodshed’ trumped punishment.

Officials in Belarus – Russia’s closest ally – accused their neighbours of handing ‘a gift to the collective West’.

‘Putin has been diminished for all time by this affair’, a former US ambassador to the Ukraine stated on Sunday.

An ex-MI6 spy stated the 70-year-old ‘has lost authority and legitimacy within Russia’ although ‘he’s managed to worm his manner out of it for the current’.

Christopher Steele advised Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: ‘To see events unfold in Russia yesterday and the speed with which the situation seemed to spiral out of control must be very concerning for Putin and the people around him.’

Western diplomats have largely averted celebrating the saga publicly, with UK and EU officers enjoying it down as an ‘internal matter’ – however a few of Ukraine’s allies may barely comprise their pleasure.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis stated Moscow’s ‘brutal banditocracy’ had suffered a ‘chaotic implosion’, including: ‘We are not distracted.

‘We see clearly in the chaos. The goal, as ever, is victory and justice for Ukraine. The time is now.’

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, stated ‘the aggression against Ukraine is causing instability also within Russia’.

Latvia and Estonia, two different EU states who share borders with Russia, stated that they had strengthened border safety, with Latvia vowing to disclaim entry to any Russians fleeing ‘due to current events’.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has refused to sanction the Kremlin over the Ukraine invasion, stated the scenario ‘underlined the importance of acting with common sense’.

Putin’s different allies have principally stayed at arm’s size, with Iran and Kazakhstan underlining their help of the ‘rule of law’ in Russia.

Kremlin’s strongest ally, China, has but to area a single official assertion, although stories recommend state censors have stifled protection of Wagner’s rebellion.