Vladimir Putin's secret gymnast lover appears to have humiliated Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin by releasing images of the mercenary leader in some ridiculous disguises following his uprising in Russia.

Last month Prigozhin marched his forces towards Moscow, enraged at how the Russian Ministry of Defence was handling the war in Ukraine.

His men turned around before breaching the capital and Prigozhin claimed his aim was never to overthrow Putin.

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It has been reported he is holed up in Belarus following the uprising, although some Russian outlets reported he had been back in the country to receive his personal weapons stash back from Russian authorities.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) recently raided Prigozhin's palace in St Petersburg and found wigs, fake beards, forged passports, suspected drugs and allegedly a framed photo showing the severed heads of his enemies.

Images of him wearing ludicrous disguises were released by a pro-Kremlin media outlet owned by Putin's long-rumoured secret lover, former Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Alina Kabaeva.

The FSB also gave the images to pro-Putin Telegram channels.

One shows him disguised as an employee of the Ministry of Defence in Sudan, another as a diplomat from Abu Dhabi.

Other disguises he deployed were a senior lieutenant from Benghazi, a colonel from Tripoli, a merchant from Syria and a field commander named Mohammed.

In one of the pictures, Prigozhin's fake beard and shades make him look strikingly similar to Sacha Baron Cohen's character Admiral General Aladeen in 2012 film The Dictator.

In another he appears to have gone for an Elton John-style wig.

Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko said: "These are not shots from a casting for a role in a cheap comedy, but a selfie of Prigozhin."

It is claimed that Prigozhin used the disguises in Africa and the Middle East while the Wagner Group were working to further Putin's interests in those regions.

The release of the images is seemingly a way of damaging Prigozhin's image amid conflict between Putin's inner circle. The despot branded Prigozhin a "traitor" following his uprising.

Some Prigozhin backers have slammed the government for releasing the images, suggesting the move violates Russia’s strict national security laws.

They suggest the Wagner Group was a creation of the GRU military intelligence agency, with many of its members allegedly coming from there.

Thus, releasing images of disguises used by Prigozhin abroad could undermine Russian security interests.

Telegram channel Trinadtsatiy said: "The backbone of the Wagner PMC is made up of people from the GRU, and they are not stupid.

"Such [disguises] are needed to work in neighbouring countries, and in fact they are operational information."

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