prigozhin accused russian defense minister sure gate shoigu of ordering a rocket strike on wagner s camps. in ukraine, but hours later after reportedly traveling some 120 miles outside of moscow, the wagner group leader ordered his forces to halt their march on the capital city, and return to their camps. in a post on telegram, prigozhin said the move was done in order to avoid russian bloodshed. now, this follows an announcement from belarus that the russian ally and neighbor had negotiated a deal to de-escalate the situation. kremlin spokesperson dimitri peskov provided some details of the compromise. russia s criminal case against prigozhin, that would be closed and he would go into exile and remain in belarus. moreover, wagner fighters who participated in today s offense will not be prosecuted. now, before we begin our reporting coverage for the hour, we want to give you some more context on this group, the wagner group. it is important to russia, its importance to the fi
hi there, everyone. i m nicole wallace, thanks for being here with us. we ve got a lot of places you get your news today, we re glad you re joining us. four pm in the east, it s 11 pm in moscow. we re following breaking news this hour, with the latest on the revolt unfolding in russia. and we see news is confirming, yevgeny prigozhin is the head of the wagner group, which is a private mercenary army in russia, that s done a lot of the fighting in the war in ukraine. he has called for his moscow bound convoy to stand down for now. that s only after advancing to within 120 miles of the city of moscow. in the biggest threat to russian president vladimir putin s grip on power that we ve ever seen. prigozhin sent a voice note, signaling that the forces would stand down, saying the group understands, quote, the responsibility for spilling russian blood on one of the sides. we are turning back our convoys, and going back to field camps, according to the plan. this comes just hours a
group s rebellion. i m ayman mohyeldin, let s get started. and just a matter of hours, yevgeny prigozhin and his band of mercenary rebels were able to overrun a key russian city, shut down several military aircrafts and leave the kremlin scrambling to defend the nation s capital. now, a day after that revolt abrupt resolution, we seem to be left with more questions than answers. especially concerning russia unpleasant veterans increasingly unsteady grip on power. here as u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken. i think we ve seen more cracks emerge in the russian facade. it is too soon to tell exactly where they go. and when they get there. certainly, we have all sorts of new questions that putin is going to have to address. one of those questions, how exactly did a group of armed rebels manage to get within 120 miles of moscow. today nbc news confirmed that u.s. intelligence agencies were aware of prigozhin s plans. congressional leaders on it more brief last week. acc
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
tonight, we begin with breaking news out of russia. a major twist in that country s war against ukraine. vladimir putin forced to confront a rebellion within his own borders. just hours ago, we learned that if guinea prigozhin, the owner and the head of the wagner group and mercenary force that has been fighting alongside the russian military and ukraine, halted his advance on to the country s capital. that announcement came shortly after prigozhin claimed he and his fighters had captured the city of rostov-on-don home to the russian military headquarters for its war in ukraine. since their invasion last year, moscow has become dependent on the back in a group to support the war efforts as they re dwindling russian forces struggle to make significant gains inside ukrainian territory. in december, the u.s. said it believed the group had an estimated 50,000 personnel inside ukraine alone. it made up of about 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts that were recruited from inside