Where next for Wagner chief after he called off his uprising… Belarus or Africa? 

Having humiliated Vladimir Putin, it seems unlikely that the bloodthirsty chief of the dreaded Wagner Group will now quietly retire.

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s renegade army was within 200 kilometers of Moscow when he dramatically repulsed his armed rebellion.

In return, the Kremlin said he would be granted immunity from prosecution and safe passage to neighboring Belarus.

But there was no sign that the former petty criminal turned warlord had gone into exile there last night amid speculation he could flee to Africa or the Middle East.

He was last seen in a car leaving Rostov-on-Don, the southern Russian city he claimed to have controlled for a day, late Saturday. He was photographed smiling as he shook hands with cheering locals.

Prigozhin, a former hot dog vendor turned private militia boss, was also quiet online. He did not post yesterday on the Wagner Group’s social media channels, which were regularly updated on Saturday.

Prigozhin’s press service told Russian broadcaster RTVI yesterday afternoon that he was “unavailable.”

“He greets everyone and will answer questions if he is normal [phone] connection,” an RTVI reporter was told after inquiry.

It remains to be seen whether the multimillionaire warlord will travel to Belarus following the deal brokered by his dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, a Russian ally and old friend of Prigozhin.

Experts said that even if he did travel, he was unlikely to stay there.

Once a close ally of the Russian president, Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group — staffed with newly recruited convicts — brought battlefield success to Putin in Ukraine.

His mercenaries also operated on behalf of the Russian government in Syria and Africa.

But Prigozhin has become increasingly critical of Russia’s approach to the conflict in Ukraine in recent months. Experts say his freedom and safety would depend on what he decided to do next.

The coup, while unsuccessful, greatly embarrasses Putin – who had previously vowed to punish those behind the armed uprising.

Yevgeny Prigozhin was photographed smiling as he shook hands with cheering locals

Some convicted fighters who had expressed support for Prigozhin and his armed coup accused him of “running away” after making a deal with the Russian president.

Recruits of Storm Z, a Russian convict military unit, stood in combat uniforms with assault rifles as someone approached Prigozhin and said he was “not a man” after he called off the mutiny.

“Rumor has it that you ran away – all of Storm Z was ready to stand behind you, and not just Storm Z, your men too. But you ran away,” he added. Mikhail Kasyanov, a former Russian prime minister turned Putin critic, said he believed Prigozhin’s days were numbered.

“I think he will go to Belarus first, but I think he will go from Belarus to Africa and be somewhere in the jungle or something. Mr. Putin cannot forgive him for this.’

Filmmaker Jack Losh, who recently returned from Ukraine and reported extensively on the Wagner Group, said: “I would look behind my back for a long time because we know that the Putin system does not forgive, and certainly does not forget.”

A local woman posed with a soldier from the Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner Group as he prepared to leave the center of Rostov-on-Don, southern Russia

A native of St. Petersburg, Prigozhin was convicted of a series of robberies and spent nine years in the Soviet prison system before establishing a hot dog stand.

He then opened a restaurant in St. Petersburg, where he came into contact with the city’s elite, including Putin, an up-and-coming politician at the time.

Prigozhin, a married father of three, then secured a contract to supply the Russian military with meals, reportedly worth $1.2 billion for a year.

Last night there were still no reports that Prigozhin arrived in Belarus. Many other questions remained unanswered, including whether he would be accompanied in exile by one of Wagner’s troops and what role he might play there.

The only message yesterday came from Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel Gray Zone, which reposted a poem with the headline: “All is decided. Almost.’