sk crisis in russia. i m michael smerconish. putin warns those involved in the mercenary group will be punished. p prigozhin says they killed a, quote, huge amount of his men. a long-time ally of the kremlin, he claimed troops had taken control of facilities in the russian cities of voronezh and rostov-on-don without firing a shot. one general called it a coup d etat, but prigozhin deniesoco. there was an announced a criminal investigation of prigozhin and they were to stop and detain their leader. in an address to the nation, putin said this. translator: i repeat, any internal turmoil is a mortal threat to our statehood, to us as a nation. this is a blow to russia, to our people. so our actions to defend the fatherland against such a threat will be severe. all those who deliberately chose the path of treachery, who prepared a mutiny, who chose blackmail and terrorist methods will face punishment. joining me to discuss is retired u.s. attorney alexander vindman, on the
okay. thank you for continuing, by the way, to lay this out in bite-sized pieces that many of us can follow. what is it that prigozhin now wants? so my initial thought is that he s likely he was likely looking to replace the minister of defense, shoygu, and the chief of the general staff for incompetence and ineffectively running the war. still serving in putin s interests, basically being the good lieutenant. going after those people in putin s inner circle that have failed him. the folks that have been providing false reports. that, to me, gives precedence for, you know, lieutenants going after folks that have failed the king. in this case, that being putin. but something has been evolving. i think the fact is that prigozhin has felt a sense of impunity with his actions. he s been given enormous amount of rope. i think putin felt there was some utility in prigozhin