were they in cahoots with the wagner group? or whether putin told them not to get involved in this particular fight. we just don t know. is there a sense at all, as you are kind of just thinking about this, that putin worries he does not have the loyalty of his own troops? right? and what that does to an authoritarian leader like vladimir putin who has been in charge for the past 23 years and was hopeful to be in charge for his life. you are on to something here. i will pull that string a little farther here. if you remember when the wagner group was in bakhmut, there was all type of rhetoric from prigozhin. talking negative about the russian military, talking negatively about the russian leadership. putin did not squash that. prigozhin had free rein, free rhetoric.
yesterday. but still so many questions about the wagner group s descent into russia. it ended almost as quickly as it began. yevgeny prigozhin s mercenaries got within 120 miles of moscow, the only to turn back to the races after a deal was brokered to prevent the armed rebellion. a spokesperson for the kremlin saying the wagner group leader will avoid prosecution and be exiled in belarus. his troops will be given the option to join russian military forces. prigozhin seen leaving russia last night as crowds cheered him on. meanwhile, new reporting revealing that u.s. spy agencies had indications, quote unquote, days earlier that prigozhin has been stockpiling weapons with plans to take on russian defense officials. i m obviously not going to comment on intelligence matters. what i can say is this, i think it s been no secret that many people over many months and that these tensions were rising, they were brewing.
i just don t see how that is going to work even if there s already dysfunction and then you incorporate these prisoners. it s just going to be more dysfunction. by the way, most of these prisoners that were extremely loyal to prigozhin, how do you get rid of that misty of prigozhin and their loyalty to him. we know putin was trying to dispel the reporting that so many of us had, and that there was a low morale inside the russian military. the russian military was in fact flailing, right, upon the invasion into ukraine. they said they were going to take the capital city of kyiv in 48 hours. and they in fact did not. i would argue, had the wagner mercenary group and prigozhin kept going, they may very well have been able to take the capital city of moscow within 48 hours. what does that actually say about the realities of the russian military capability?
survive this? or does he not have a choice knowing the type of support he has in russia right now? it would ve been risky for putin to engage in an open arm conversation with russians killing russians, you don t know how that would have played out. also wagner, prigozhin are pretty popular. they have carried a lot of this war. also his critique of the war. my guess it has resonance or potential residents. putin has to be careful about. it if in two weeks or three weeks something were to befall mr. prigozhin, he as well in a window or an unsafe places or a poisoning, i wouldn t be surprised about that. i wouldn t assume that mr. prigozhin has a political future in russia. by the way, i wouldn t rule it out. but just because there wasn t an open armed confrontation, i don t think mr. putin is done with him. you mentioned you are watching xi, seeing if he will
policy should be to enlist china here. they are in a much better position than anyone else to put pressure on putin and on russia. we should be open to doing things with them if it is constructive. i m not saying this will be, but it certainly is worth exploring. richard haass for us, as always, thank you sir, appreciate it. coming up, everybody, the effectiveness of putin s army, we are back in just 60 seconds with retired lieutenant general on how the wagner group forces got within 120 miles of moscow. we will be right back. be right back. (vo) this is sadie, she s on verizon. the network she can count on. and now she s got myplan, the game-changing new plan that lets her pick exactly what she wants and save on every perk. sadie is getting her plan ready for a big trip. travel pass, on. nice iphone. cute couple. trips don t last forever, neither does summer love. so, sadie is moving on. apple music, check! introducing myplan. the first and only unlimited plan to give you exactly