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 the kremlin. they got within 125 miles. putin called the move treason. it s important for all of us to remember that the wagner group has been backing up in a very significant way. russia s defense ministry in the war in ukraine. let s bring into our coverage, our team of reporters analysts and experts that join us this hour. starting with sanchez in kyiv. correspondent for the washington post missy ryan, and national security analyst and former director of the cia, john brennan. let me start with you.
come again. -sorry, what was that? introducing the next generation 10g network only from xfinity. we re back with the latest on the future starts now. the revolt in russia. the wagner group, a particularly brutal and a violent group of mercenary forces in russia that have been critical to russia s ability for its military to hold steady, if you can say that in its war on ukraine standing down after appearing armed and ready to march to and take on the kremlin. let s turn to our team of experts to talk about this. perry mccaffrey here, and jason
the rare leader on the battlefield in ukraine and that has a loyalty of the troops behind him. do you have any sense of what the assessment would be of russia s military capabilities? without not just him, but without wagner? yeah. wagner really was the most reliable firepower since the beginning of the after the early days where the attempt to capture kyiv fails, wagner has been the most powerful combat force within the russian military, that we ve seen in ukraine. and really they powered the capture of bakhmut, the contested city of bakhmut, and wagner has been willing to use tactics that units have not been able to employ. they have used conscripts from prisons, all sorts of contract workers, and so they have been the tip of the spear as another desk said earlier on. and i think there is a few
terms of a sort of deal, is probably the best he is going to get. and i think he knew that. you know, missy, one of the things that russia washers hope for and certainly people have covered the war and covered the atrocities in bucha, and the brutality of the wagner group, and mccaffrey makes a great point. the russian military has that in its ethos as well. the brutality and the violence and that s why there are so many open investigations into war crimes that have been committed. the wishful thinking that putin might fall because of a dissent from the left, from the pro democracy side seems like as big of a fantasy as ever. of course, this was a threat from the other side. from the right, mawkish if you will. his military strategy. what does it tell you about russia? the concern that i am hearing is not that putin could
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.