Stay updated with breaking news from Putin s go to guy. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
welcome back. you are live in the cnn newsroom. i m jim acosta in washington. and russia, it s the day after. the day after the head of the wagner mercenary group called off his armed rebellion and advance on moscow the day of the military leadership in the handles of the war in ukraine, the day of wagner forces were almost uncharged as the columns marched towards moscow. it s the day after. locals were heard cheering for the mercenaries, and not for putin. they said they had captured military facilities in two russian cities. the wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin said he wanted to spear sharing russian blood. translator: realizing all the responsibility that russian blood will be shed from one of the sides. we turn our columns around and leave in the of sirte direction to the field camps, according to the plan. did you ever think you would see this? here is prigozhin receiving a h hero s farewell as he leaves. the kremlin says he will not be prosecuted and he will be ....
remarkable scenes out of sl russia in the last few hours. loud cheers as wagner founder yevgeny prigozhin leaves the area. he says he will be heading out to belarus as part of a deal to avoid spilling russian blood, as he called us. joining us now is terrorism expect malcolm nance. great to see you. i know you have been saying you thought some of this would be coming to pass, that perhaps putin s days were numbered because of the way he overextended the russians in ukraine. what do you make of what has occurred in the last 24 hours? and do you think it would be the beginning of the end for vladimir putin? well, let s look at it from a ....
Seeing the beginning of the end and maybe the beginning of the end it takes along time before he actually gets to the end. but if it is the beginning of the end, if putin s hold on power, perhaps there are people who are much more national who say this is maybe not such a great ideas to be snatching basketball players and journalists and holding them, and detaining them for leverage. exactly. exactly. jim, that s what i m hoping. that, you know, this might i just like to think very positively about it. but i think the big thing is, we have to stay focused on our priority as a count, and yeah, i m hopeful of the group people ....
Of his innermost eastern. the senior leadership. the real question, can he recover from that? if anybody s going to conduct a really successful coup against putin, it s going to be those people. and if they lose faith in him, the way he has taken the country, that can still happen. yeah, general, that raises a good point. might might the people closest to putin be sensing a opportunity here? or even some maximum danger in what prigozhin was able to pull off there? and might they be tempted to take some kind of action for their own part? and usher putin out so he leaves the scene in ways that russians only know how to do? is that too much of a farfetched scenario? what do you think? first of all, very much appreciate steve s last ....
Relationship a 20-year relationship with prigozhin just doesn t pass muster. he wouldn t have done that if putin had ngt signed off in advance. so it s face-saving for putin. everyone seems to be getting thems themselves out of a jam. and what after the day after? they have themselves out of a jam and there is still a ways to go on the jam. nic, i have to think the day after and the day after and the day after, that will be on prigozhin s mind. how does he feel comfortable taking a sip of coffee or drinking his soup? i can t imagine he is going to be standing next to any open windows on high floors any time soon. reporter: he would be a fool if he did, right? putin hates people who betray him. ....