Elite, of course, but he talks in a way that appeals to them. he talks in a way that appeals to soldiers. remember, he s a thug, he s a criminal, he s done horrific things. i want to be clear about how i feel about him. but his soldiers fought in the trenches with russian soldiers in ukraine, and that gives him a following with the soldiers. the privates, not the generals as well. and as his forces were leaving rostov, you re showing that right now, they were cheered. and as the police reappear, they have been scolded and chastised by the people there. if you re vladimir putin, those are very dangerous things to be watching. something we ve talked about a little bit, but i just want to underscore it. russia s military has been carrying out atrocities, they ve carried out war crimes in bucha. and prigozhin his mercenaries are known to be more brutal and
Security correspondent, looking at the background of this individual. yevgeny prigozhin outside russian military headquarters in rostov on don this morning, boasting his wagner group have taken it without firing a shot. butjust who is this man challenging russia s armed forces, and now its president? prigozhin began as a criminal from st petersburg. after leaving jail, he began selling hotdogs but then graduated to running expensive restaurants. he caught the attention of russia s leader, leading him to be known as putin s chef. he catered to world leaders when they visited, even america s president, but also became rich from lucrative military contracts. then, in the last decade, he branched out, running operations around the world on behalf of the kremlin. that led to the fbi placing him on their most wanted list for allegedly interfering with america s 2016 election. but prigozhin became best known as head of wagner,
Than punishing people. we ll have the latest on a dramatic day from our correspondents steve rosenberg in moscow and andrew harding in eastern ukraine, and i ll bejoined by our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, with her assessment. let s start in moscow with steve rosenberg. yes, just a few hours ago, it seemed as if wagnerfighters yes, just a few hours ago, it seemed as if wagner fighters were on their way to moscow and there seem to be a real danger of confrontation because of that. but in russia things can change part and, for whatever reason, they did so today. this is how the day began. in the russian city of rostov, armed men and armour on the streets. and thanks outside key buildings. and tanks outside key buildings. in control here, the mercenary group wagner, closely linked to the state. they d fought for
I m helena humphrey, good to have you with us. we start with what has been an extraordinary 24 hours in russia. the wagner group, a group of mercenary soldiers who ve been fighting in ukraine, is pulling back fighters from rostov on don. wagner s leader yevgeny prigozhin, who had been very critical of putin s approach to the war in ukraine, earlier called on russian troops to rebel against their leaders and said his men were marching on moscow. however in a development in just the last few hours, russian state media reported that prigozhin has left for belarus amid his decision to stand his troops down. a huge convoy had been heading towards moscow in what vladimir putin had described, as an attempted mutiny, but charges against him and his wagnerforces will be dropped. president putin s press secretary said that wagner mercenaries who wish to sign a ministry of defence contract can, and fighters who took part in the uprising will not be prosecuted.
Putin and lukashenko. it was just a few weeks ago injune, this meeting. and lukashenko wasn t the only one saying he d play a role in trying to halt the advance. we heard from the likes of president recep tayyip erdogan of turkey, who said he would get involved in any negotiations if needed. but it was lukashenko who secured that deal. now, let s take a look at what took place over the course of the day, going back to crimea, which the russian occupied area in red. you can see that that was annexed in 2014. many of the troops involved in that annexation went on to become a part of the wagner mercenary group. i mean, in 2014, at the time, the group weren t well known at all. they were, you know, a little known group with about 5,000 men. i mean, now they re thought to have at least 50,000 men are part of that mercenary group. they started down to rostov on don. that advance we heard went