this is our special coverage out of russia. the head of wagner group, the leader released a statement. therefore, realizing all the responsibilities for the fact that russian blood will be shed from one of the sides we turn our columns and move in the opposite field of the camps. officials claim their president had reached a deal with the wagner boss to halt his troops. earlier, he said his private army seizeded control of russian military facilities in it two critical cities. that is half way on the road to moscow. president putin called the actions a betrayal and stab notice back to the russian people. and he warned anyone who followed pergosian will pay a price. these are bulldogs and gangsters and the fight is way out into the open. it is a very serious one. we have full coverage of the breaking news. we have cnn chief international security correspondent with us nick paton walsh, national security reporter natasha bertrand. nick, i guess the question now is not onl
world, now yevgeny prigozhin is a wanted man in russia as well. he s often group of fight serz pitted against the russian military leadership and prigozhin is suddenly moscow s public enemy number one. vladimir putin calling for prigozhin s group to lay down their arms. translator: all those who deliberate choose the path of treachery, who prepare an armed mutiny and chose the path of blackmail and terrorist methods will face punishment and answer to the law and to our people. reporter: he may now be something of a nemesis to vladimir putin but it was his decade s long relationship with the russian president that allowed prigozhin to establish his own militia, the wagner group. wagner served as a private army doing controversial jobs that often not even russia s military could do. prigozhin, a former prisoner himself and self-styled hard man from st. petersberg used wagner.
things. they were concentrating troops and ammunition for a major push against russian forces. ben, i wonder is ukraine acknowledging perhaps it s looking for any new openings or, you know, an advantage as a result of seeing this russian power struggle, this in fighting out in the open? it certainly indicated the depth of divisions within the russian sort of elite writ large. we ve been well aware of the differences between prigozhin and his wagner group on the one hand. and the leadership of the defense ministry on the other. the way that it happens within the last 24 hours or so was more
prigozhin had them in his sights. we re looking at a longer-term issue for vladimir putin s authority and ultimately question as to whether he ends this episode now having to accept that prigozhin calls so many shots in rush ysia. startling times. that s going to be impacted significantly, too. well, exactly. and those groups have had, if any russian successes, they come at those, you know, the hands of the wagner group. nick, thank you very much. natasha, the u.s. and nato allies are really, really, you know, hoping that there would be some internal challenge to putin. what do we know about that? what we re told is u.s. intelligence officials did see some signs that prigozhin was
you re going to have to see if this is a temporary or 24-hour freak incident or long term effects on the ability of russian forces. indeed. ben, thank you so much. u.s. president biden and other top u.s. officials are monitoring the situation closely this afternoon. let s bring in our reporter live from the white house. what you are learning about the approach the white house is taking? i asked the white house moments ago whether there are any changes or updates now that we know the wagner chief said his forces are turning around. and the statement i got is that they are continuing to monitor the situation. that has been the line from the white house over the last several hours. now, we know that this morning president biden spoke with the leaders of france, germany, and the uk. and in a readout from the white house, they said that, quote, the leaders discussed the situation in russia.