For one long June night and a day, Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary leader and key player in the Ukraine war, Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged an apparent insurrection. He sent an armoured convoy towards Moscow and raised questions about Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

The Russian president even accused his former ally of treason, embarking on an armed rebellion and “a stab in the back of our country”.

But by the end of Saturday, Prigozhin had called the whole thing off and ordered his men back to base.