we can t have these conversations without you, so i know you are juggling a lot of things. but thank you very much for making some time to talk to us. we re grateful. e time to talk to us we re grateful . ,. . it to the to th according to russian state media, the criminal case against yevgeny prigozhin, the head of the wagner group, a private mercenary army in russia critical to russia s ability to wage war in ukraine, will be dropped. that s what they re saying at least. and he will be an exile in belarus. so far, it is not clear if you will actually give up leadership or commands of the wagner group. but he sent a voice note signaling that his forces would stand down. that order comes after a day of putin back negotiations with prigozhin to avoid russian losses inside russian territory. with promises of safety guarantees for the wagner fighters. until just a few hours ago, wagner forces were marching toward moscow. appearing to be ready to wage an armed result against
humiliate putin on the world stage? i think the biggest takeaway is that putin comes out of this crisis much weaker than he was before. this has been building, we ve talked about it before. i think this war in general has weakened putin s rule inside, and most certainly is standing around the world. think about what we just witnessed. two armed forces that used to be loyal to putin, threatening to go to war with each other. and then who comes to save mr. putin? luka sanca. the guy who is supposed to be subordinate to mr. putin. and you re playing it right now, i ve watched that clip many, many times. i watch mr. putin for many decades now. he called prigozhin a traitor. and he called him a traitor to all of the russian people. think about it at president biden getting on television in front of the oval office, talking about osama bin laden
because you ve got this country sitting on the second largest nuclear arsenal, people should be reminded that a week and putin is not necessarily a good putin. we want that situation resolved, and i love the ambassadors words. we need to wrap this up as soon as possible. ambassador mcfaul, we ve got a minute left and it s all yours. just tell me your feelings on the analysis. putin s most dangerous when he s winning, putin s most dangerous when he s losing, what is he ever more or less dangerous, or is he always just kind of putin? he is always dangerous, and when he s weak people say that he s going to lash out and escalate. let s be honest, he doesn t have great escalatory options in ukraine. except for one horrific one, which would be a nuclear weapon, but nobody s talking about that. so i think we overplay the idea he s in a corner, and so he s going to lash out. he is lashing out every night. i talk to ukrainians who were bombed last night. number two, the other argument if no
but he sent a voice note signaling that his forces would stand down. that order comes after a day of putin back negotiations with prigozhin to avoid russian losses inside russian territory. with promises of safety guarantees for the wagner fighters. until just a few hours ago, wagner forces were marching toward moscow. appearing to be ready to wage an armed result against the kremlin. they got within 125 miles. putin called the move treason. it s important for all of us to remember that the wagner group has been backing up in a very significant way. russia s defense ministry in the war in ukraine. let s bring into our coverage, our team of reporters analysts and experts that join us this hour. starting with sanchez in kyiv. correspondent for the washington post missy ryan, and national security analyst and former director of the cia, john brennan. let me start with you.
trash. their political pariah in the international community. the billionaires, the oligarchs can t go somewhere on the riviera anymore. so this place is a real mess. putin still has the national guard, the riot police, the fsb and the ministry interior. he took maybe 4000 people keeping him personally safe in his isolated country. so in the short run, maybe we re not going to see it collapse, but putin is clearly in a weakened state, and that s good news for the west and good news for ukraine. and goo ws david, go ahead. you asked a question that i think general mccaffrey really took well. what could the was to this? for the diplomats to really go to war, can seize on the