Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu seen in public for first time since failed Wagner rebellion

Footage of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has emerged for the first time since the Wagner rebellion over the weekend.

In a video released on Monday morning by the Russian Defence Ministry, Shoigu was seen visiting Russian troops and flying in a plane with a military colleague.

There was no sound on the video and it was not immediately clear where or when the footage was taken.

Russia’s Zvezda Defence Ministry TV Channel said Shoigu had listened to a report by Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov, the group’s commander, about the current situation on the frontlines in Ukraine.

Shoigu’s fate had remained a mystery last night, with no sighting of him since the chaotic Wagner uprising, which saw a battle-hardened column of mercenaries seize key military installations in two cities and march towards Moscow.

The removal of Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, was key among the demands of the Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin as he staged an offensive before a deal led to the uprising being called off.

A senior US official told ABC News that they believed concessions were made over General Shoigu’s future as well as others as part of the agreement, but last night it was still unclear where General Shoigu or General Gerasimov were.

Last night, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested the turmoil of the insurrection could take months to play out.

UK security sources have told The Telegraph that the Wagner advance was halted after threats were made by Russian intelligence services to family members of the mercenary group’s leaders.

The ease with which Wagner was able to make inroads within Russia is another embarrassment on top of scorn from Russian nationalists over what is seen as the ineffective handling of the war in Ukraine.

Arnaud Dubien, director of the Franco-Russian Observatory thinktank, said that the “big loser” was General Shoigu.

Before launching his attempted coup, Mr Prigozhin blamed General Shoigu for starting the war in Ukraine and has previously accused Kremlin defence chiefs of withholding ammunition from his fighters.

Mr Prigozhin branded General Shoigu and General Gerasimov “scumbags” who will “burn in hell” in a series of explosive outbursts.

On Friday, he accused Genera Shoigu’s forces of ordering a rocket strike on Wagner’s field camps in Ukraine and killing “a huge number of our comrades”.

Asked if there would be personnel changes in the Russian defence ministry as a result of the deal under which Mr Prigozhin was due to be exiled to Belarus, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “These matters are the sole prerogative and within the competence of the supreme commander-inchief [Mr Putin] .

“Therefore, it is unlikely that these topics could have been discussed in the course of the abovementioned contacts”.

There are still no confirmed reports that Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus

General Shoigu has been a longterm ally of Vladimir Putin and has holidayed with the Russian President, with the pair enjoying hunting and fishing trips together, posing for topless sunbathing photos in 2017.

But relations between them have soured as the war in Ukraine continues to go badly for Russia. On 12 June, Mr Putin was seen turning his back on his defence minister as they gave medals to wounded soldiers.

(This story is being updated)