Vladimir Putin may still seek revenge on Wagner group boss Yevgeny Prighozin, the head of the CIA has said.
Mr Prigozhin led an abortive mutiny in Russia last month during which his fighters threatened to march to Moscow in a highly-damaging blow to Putin.
CIA head William Burns told the Aspen Security Forum, a foreign policy conference, that Putin may still seek retribution for the mutiny, the BBC reported.
“What we are seeing is a very complicated dance,” he said, adding: “Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold.
“In my experience, Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback so I would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution."
Mr Prigozhin backed down from his rebellion after a deal was brokered by Putin’s ally, President Lukashenko of Belarus.
He has since been pictured in Belarus’s capital of Minsk, although the CIA head said he may have moved around.
Putin is likely to be trying to buy time as he works out how best to deal with him, said Mr Burns, who added that the Wagner Group still had value to the Russian leadership in places like Syria and Libya.
Belarus earlier this week confirmed it has reached an agreement with Wagner to train its troops.
A defence ministry statement said: “We have developed a roadmap for... transfer of experience between different branches of the armed forces.”
Belarus has said that fighters from the Wagner group were instructing its soldiers at a military range southeast of Minsk.
It comes as the UK on Thursday sanctioned key figures in the group over “despicable” allegations of massacre, rape and torture carried out across Africa.
Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said the Russian mercenary unit, as well as assisting the Kremlin with its invasion of Ukraine, was “acting with impunity" in countries such as Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan.
