do you think that the instability we witnessed over the weekend in russia is over or just beginning? i think it is still an unstable situation, i don t think this feud is over. i don t think that whatever understanding he announced the other day is somehow a resolution. on the one hand, prigozhin sees putin and the ministry of defence with blood on their hands because they did kill a number of wagner group mercenaries in ukraine and on the other hand prigozhin just staged a rebellion and so i don t think that putin is going to be viewed as the same strong person that he was a couple of days ago today because prigozhin is still alive and well, and i think that he has thousands of people in russia who still pledge their loyalty to prigozhin. the eu s foreign policy chief
travelling hundreds of miles down the highway unchallenged in russia and for them to have taken over the military ta ken over the military headquarters taken over the military headquarters in rostov on don, it may be betrays a little bit of the disingenuous nests of mr putin s statement. he of the disingenuous nests of mr putin s statement. putin s statement. he also said he would keep putin s statement. he also said he would keep his putin s statement. he also said he would keep his promise - putin s statement. he also said he would keep his promise to l he would keep his promise to the wagner group who wanted to to go to belarus. do you think that the instability we witnessed over the weekend in russia is over orjust beginning? i russia is over or ust beginning? russia is over or ust beginning? russia is over or ust beaainnin? ~ , , beginning? i think it is still an unstable beginning? i think it is still an unstable situation, - beginning? i think it is still an unstable
i think putin s top priority now is to try to re-establish his authority since he s got on the one hand prigozhin who has led perhaps the most effective military force in the war here pitted against the entire military establishment of the defense of the ministry of defense and, therefore, really, it s a question of can he hold on to power long enough to perhaps somewhere down the line come to the table. but at the moment, i think his real preoccupation is just maintaining his throne, let alone pursuing any diplomatic or military initiatives when it comes to ukraine. kim? absolutely, all right. ben wedeman in zaporizhzhia. thank you so much. well, this all comes as fighting is still raging across ukraine. officials there say their air
their pentagon. that s probably close to an apt comparison because that s where a lot of the military is centered, but it s not entirely there, but it went down, you know, very, very quickly to these soldiers who had seized it in a surprise and again, the same soldiers under the command of yevgeny prigozhin, who was and remains a rock star general in the eyes of many russian folks who back home say he s returning them to the greatness they enjoyed, and they were looking forward to the greatness that would return. and with vladimir putin, those two were thick and thieves as i can use that slang, but obviously, there s a major wedge between them now. but again, the drama is playing out in real-time we just don t know where it will end. time to go to lt. colonel bob mcginnis, a multiple best seller about what is happening around the world, russia,
and overthrow putin. putin still has the majority of the population that support him and will weather the storm taking place here, but none ever less he ll be weakened as a result of it. neil: i m curious, jen, what you made of prigozhin s charge against the defense ministry and the minister himself and what vladimir putin did in response to the charges, you could say he was not punished for making them and that would be usually the kind of talk that would get you forced out of office if not thrown in the clink, if not killed. but he famously said that the defense ministry was responsible for actually bombing camps in his region in ukraine, that he was trying to take from ukraine. that they were deliberately targeting, that it wasn t a move for ukrainians, it was to kill him. and nothing was clarified about that, but it was obviously, those are pretty damning remarks. what did you make of them?