we ll speak with the chair of the house armed services committee adam smith. a final verdict is expected at any moment from moscow. brittney griner s cannabis possession case. the wnba star addressing the court during closing arguments just moments ago. let s go ahead and listen to part of her statement. russian translators have been edited out. my parents taught me two important things. one, take ownership for your responsibilities and, two, work hard for everything that you have. that s why i pled guilty to my charges. i understand everything that s being said against me, the charges that are against me. and that is why i pled guilty. but i had no intent to break any russian laws. i want the court to understand that it was an honest mistake that i made while in russia, under stress, trying to recover from post-covid and just trying to get back to my team. griner pleaded guilty after her arrest nearly six months ago at moscow s airport, and prosecutors are asking for 9
launched an apparent insurrection against president vladimir putin and the russian government. watching these developments closely, cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson in london and also julia yaffi. she is russian born and has deep knowledge of russia. let s try to get this straight. it s an insurrection, says putin, but prigozhin has not named putin and he s been very careful to say this is not a soup. so what do you think prigozhin s aim is? i keep asking people this question. i m just trying to figure out whether there is anything in the atmosphere that could tell us what he wants to achieve beyond his owned a vancement. a lot of assessment has been that he wants his o own advancement. he seems to have established
that they need. he s been a master of the message. has he come out too soon when the greater system in russia is not ready for a challenge to putin? because naming putin, yes, he s challenging that, but putin has not answered the question that prigozhin has put out there. that is that the war has been fought badly, shouldn t have been fought, was fought on a bad premise. at the moment, it seems prigozhin has himself in a relatively safe place, but this could turn on a dime. julia, from everything you know from being in russia, from your personal experience, how do you think the ordinary everyday russian will be interpreting this? to be frank, they haven t shown
her arrest nearly six months ago at moscow s airport, and prosecutors are asking for 9 1/2 years in prison. joining me is nbc s molly hunter and julia yaffi, washington correspondent at pug. molly, we ll start with you. what do we expect from this verdict? yeah, lindsey, that s right. we expect the verdict to come down in about 45 minutes. as you mentioned, the prosecutors have asked for 9 1/2 years. brittney griner is facing two charges that carry a maximum sentence of ten years. they have asked for almost that maximum. what we expect in about 45 minutes, the judge will give a summary of the case. he will walk through what has been happening in the criminal case for the last month or so. then there will be a small section we expect where basically he explains the considerations. we considered this factor, we considered her international celebrity. basically explains the framing of it. at the end of that statement, that s when we expect the verdict. part of that verdict, and i don t
prisoner swap we have been talk about. before we get to that, julia, you ve been watching this case closely, what do you think the chances are the judge will issue the hefty sentence or be more lenient given that lack of intent? i think it depends on what you mean by more lenient. i think the judge in these kinds of cases these kinds of cases are rare, but what i expect is the judge will give her something less than 9 1/2 years, but it will still be pretty hefty. i can imagine something like eight years, seven years, which will, in the context of the russian criminal justice system, if you can call it a criminal justice system, will be considered lenient, but is, in fact, a really hefty sentence. molly, let s talk about that prisoner swap deal. we know that it s not set in stone yet. there s nothing that s been officially agreed upon. we know experts believe her