way towards the city. earlier today, that group seized control of military headquarters in a southern key russian city. they are now on a northern track towards the capital city of moscow. about halfway. this is also a view for you this morning, moscow s mayor, just moments ago, saying a counterterrorism operation declared in the city, in moscow. this is canceling the workday, it is asking people to stay home. obviously not a common situation or request. also new for you at 12 pm eastern in new york city, vladimir putin mobilizing troops in an address to the nation vowing to crush what he calls an armed rebellion. this rebellion led by the group s leader, yevgeny prigozhin. whose forces, up until the past couple of days, we re fighting alongside russia in ukraine. today, not that day. not that way. on friday, prove goshen accused the kremlin of invading ukraine on false pretenses. putin today vowing to punish anyone who takes up arms against a russian military. that s last 24
bases. russian ally and neighbor in belarus helped broker a deal with prigozhin, to escalate the situation. prigozhin agreed to leave russia for asylum batters, but not before getting a heroes sendoff from russian residents. [crowd chanting] [sound of gunfire] nbc news correspondent ali arouzi joins me now, live from london. ali, thank you for being here. the situation in russia has changed dramatically in the last 24 hours, what s happening there now? jonathan, it has been an extraordinary 24 hours of mayhem, mutiny. and as quickly as all of this began, it ended. in a nutshell, where are we? the wagner group probably will be incorporated into the russian defense ministry, prigozhin is in exile in neighboring belarus, and vladimir putin is still in power, considerably weaker. and it is really extraordinary what unfolded in russia. very extraordinary how it all started. look at the beginning of the day, vladimir putin made that statement on television, visibly angry, calli
Mercenary troops from the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) are still on Ukrainian territory. Source: CNN, with reference to a statement by Patrick Ryder, Spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, at a press briefing Quote: "But in terms of their specific disposition and whether they may or may not move be moving, I'm not going to speculate on that.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday gave his first address to the nation after a short-lived mutiny of Wagner forces led by Yevgeny Prigozhin threatened his grip on power.
Russia has been shaken by the weekend's failed mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary troops who briefly took control of a military command steering Moscow's campaign in Ukraine, then started a march on Moscow before aborting it. Lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, who early in the 16-month war took part in peace negotiations with Ukraine, said that Russia needs a contract army of at least seven million military and civilian personnel, on top of the current conscript army.