jon: it is perhaps the most serious challenge to the vladimir putin s authority, although at this moment it appears the challenge has edged. yevgeny prigozhin has turned his forces around and is said to be heading back to belarus. let s check in with our greg palkot who s covering the story from that part of the world. greg. reporter: jon, it looks like we re back on the brink in russia just across the border from where we are right now in kyiv, but it also looks like a lot of damage was done. it was the biggest risk to russian president vladimir putin s more than two decades of rule, attempted coup, an armed uprising. the man responsible, evgeni pregoes telephone, complaining friday about the war, then pulling his fighters out of ukraine and into the russian city of rostov-on-don with where, with little trouble, they took over the place. and, yes, prigozhin sent forces towards moscow, within 120 miles, the kremlin bracing for an attack, vladimir putin branding the actions
we can t have these conversations without you, so i know you are juggling a lot of things. but thank you very much for making some time to talk to us. we re grateful. e time to talk to us we re grateful . ,. . it to the to th according to russian state media, the criminal case against yevgeny prigozhin, the head of the wagner group, a private mercenary army in russia critical to russia s ability to wage war in ukraine, will be dropped. that s what they re saying at least. and he will be an exile in belarus. so far, it is not clear if you will actually give up leadership or commands of the wagner group. but he sent a voice note signaling that his forces would stand down. that order comes after a day of putin back negotiations with prigozhin to avoid russian losses inside russian territory. with promises of safety guarantees for the wagner fighters. until just a few hours ago, wagner forces were marching toward moscow. appearing to be ready to wage an armed result against
for a long time. he uses maybe one part of his leadership. he was up one day then the other day, pushback on somebody else. kind of the classic divide and rule. i think prigozhin was a handy tool for him to put pressure on shrug you, maybe you blame shrug you or others for what was happening. but it is obviously gunning out of control. he thought he could control, now he can t. how does this and do you think? like i said, i think in the short term he will be able to squash this. but in the long term, dictators, it s when that shrink in the armor shows that things start to change. he has control moscow through fear for 20 years, just like in eastern me in other places. once they start to change, people become not afraid anymore. or they see the possibility of change, then things may spiral out of control for dictator. this is a really dangerous time for people. all right, thank you so much for your expertise. we appreciate the time. it is the most dramatic threat so fa
yevgeny prigozhin called off his rebellion after 24 hours of mayhem. roadblocks to stop his wagner forces are filled in, as the crisis is diffused. after a direct threat to his leadership, the questions over vladimir putin s future. well forces in ukraine assess how the turmoil will affect the progress of the war. also this morning, the public toll, they can now call 999 after earlier technical fault. plus, labor calls for mandatory help for homeowners struggling to meet rising mortgage payments. and the princess of wales takes on roger federer as she praises the work of ball girls and boys ahead of wimbledon. good morning. now, the rebellion by the russian mercenary leader yevgeny prigozhin appears for now, to be over. the russian president vladimir putin called it a knife in the back of our people, and said that his forces were traitors. but a deal has now been negotiated by belarus and the kremlin, said the rebel leader will be allowed to leave the country and his fighters
because of an insurrection led by the leader of the wagner mercenaries that ended nearly as soon as it started. an apparent clash between wagner and russian troops which was followed by a fire at that oil refinery you see on your screen there. under the deal done, the kremlin says wagner troops will not face any legal action, but they ll sign new contracts with russia s defense ministry while moscow will drop its charges against prig prigozhin, who will go to belarus. wagner s leader says he agreed to that in order to avoid bloodshed. translator: therefore, realizing all the responsibility for the fact that russian blood will be shed from one of the sides, we turn our columns around and leave in the opposite direction to the field camps, according to the plan. the kremlin says it doesn t know where prigozhin is right now. what you see there is video of people cheering as he left ross stor-on-don where his troops seized military facilities on saturday. officials now tell c