then you and then change topics. one thing you mentioned is, sorry, you said the united states will continue sorry, the united states will continue to impose costs on wagner or its successor. is there any indication right now that wagner is actually standing up a successor organization? i think i said or successor if any. we have noted the announcements by the ministry of defense that wagner forces are supposed to be absorbed into the ministry of defense. we don t have any assessment of what will happen to the wagner group, either in ukraine or elsewhere and the world, but whether it s wagner or whether it s a successor or any other organization that conducts the activities that wagner has conducted to destabilize those we will hold them accountable. i don t have any assessments at this time. there are media reports that the biden administration had intelligence about the mutiny, whatever you call it, since mid june. is that correct, and also if that s true, why didn
he s a war criminal and he can bring the war to belarus. we don t want that. we heard from prigozhin today that lukashenko promised him to legalize the wagner crew. what that means in practice, we don t know. there are rumors that wagner was to open up in our territory. if that happened, there could be threats. just imagine thousands of foreign troops in our territory. prigozhin might be involved in military training or whatever. to your point, i know you and your team banishment. sorry. we lost you for a moment. finish your thought. just heard an interesting opinion today that we don t know if banishment of prigozhin is deportation or his mission, for example, to make provocation in
reporter: i wasn t trying to say you were supporting prigozhin. i m saying this development was extremely dangerous. do you at least admit that? he was 60 miles from their nuclear air base. the secretary said that instability in a major country is always a major concern. reporter: at the world s largest nuclear i answered the question. one more. kylie first. reporter: one thing that you mentioned sorry. you said the united states will continue sorry. the united states will continue to impose costs on wagner or its successor. is there any indication that wagner is setting up a successor organization? we ve noted the announcements
broadly in africa where they have a big footprint? where does wagner go from here? do you have any early read on that? we don t. we don t know the answer to your question. it s too soon to know. we recognize that wagner still has a presence in africa. i think you know we ve worked to hold wagner accountable. they re listed as a transnational criminal organization. we ve sanctioned them. we ll continue to take those action that is are appropriate to limit their ability to sow chaos and violence. it s too soon to know where wagner goes as an entity or where mr. prigozhin goes in terms of his leadership. reporter: do you know where prigozhin is? i don t. reporter: ukraine is warning that russia has completed preparations to blow up the zaporizhzhia power station. is that your assessment? i would tell you we re watching that very closely
dispute between prigozhin s forces and putin, while noting dramatic events this weekend, including as he pointed out, that prigozhin called into question the pretext for the war in ukraine, challenged putin s leadership and took his forces to march on a russian city, taking over one and heading towards the capital before they turned around. other updates today from the leader of that rebellion. the wagner group chief yevgeny prigozhin said that regime change was never the goal of his rebellion. here s part of his audio statement released as he remains off the grid and out of sight. translator: two factors played into my decision to turn around. first factor, we wanted to avoid a russian blood shed. second, we marched in demonstration as a protest, not to overthrow the country.