of putin being so deeply, deeply embarrassed out there on the global stage? well, again, i think theis dents his aura of being this superman. i think that aura has already been in decline over the past 16 months because everybody had more respect and fear for putin before the ukrainian invasion an after the ukrainian invasion because it revealed the massive deficiencies in his military forces, that they have been ground to a halt. in fact, have been pushed back in many areas by the ragtag ukrainian military. so i don t think that putin is going to inspire quite as much fear in future as he has in the past. and i think what this also indicates is that, you know, it s very possible that time is actually on the side of the ukrainians because the conventional wisdom has been time is on russia s side because it s a larger country, ukraine
by showing he was going to be a tough guy, that he was going to waste them in the outhouse, the tough guy talk that he used for taking on chechen separatists at the time. but now the person who has sort of displaced him on russia s stage as the tough talker, as the straight shooter, as the uber nationalist has been yevgeny prigozhin. somebody who sort of speaks in this kind of criminal argot, who really has commanded in a lot of ways where he previously before the full s-scale invasion of ukraine had no public profile. basically, they kept him at arm s length. so this has been an extraordinary, you know, it s not even a dent. it s massive damage to putin s stature and his public image as the person who can t be challenged, wolf. yeah, good point. we saw those images, and i am sure you did as well, of russians actually cheering,
asking a ranger oradell that forceara seal to go to some infantry unit and spend the rest of their time on front lines. it s just unfathomable from a military perspective what might happen to the wagner group in the future. that s why i say this isn t over yet. there will be internal rebellion within the military, within the army self, not just at the senior leader level. there is a lack of trust now in all of the leaders of the russian forces, especially mr. putin, by the soldiers wearing the uniform. in many respects, it may only be just beginning right now. by no means over. we are watching these fascinating developments unfold. retired lieutenant-general mark hertling, thank you very much. still ahead, what lesson has putin learned from in uprising and how concerned should he be about the possibility of another one? we ll discuss that and more right after a quick break.
and the russian defense ministry. it got out of control. putin couldn t keep a lid on it and all of a sudden this frankenstein monster, the wagner group that he created, turned on him and started marching towards the russian capital. so i think that shows that putin is not as in control of the situation as he would like to think. which is absolutely true. where does this leave, max, the wagner group? has been, as we know, critical to putin s war in ukraine and also to russian operations elsewhere in the world, including specifically in the middle east and africa. that s a great question. i think the answer is unclear. it s unclear to me what will happen to the wagner group. i mean, you know, prigozhin is still going to be around. he is only in belarus. that s not that far away. he could run the wagner group from belarus. there was talk about having the wagner fighters who are loyal to the defense ministry. what that means in practice in
democratic congressman jason crow serves on the intelligence and foreign affairs committees. he says both putin and prigozhin are worse off. if anybody thinks that either putin or prigozhin is going to walk away unscathed, this ter fooling themselves. the idea that prigozhin s going to belarus and retire in peace and the wagner mercernaries are just going to return to battlefield and putin s going to go back to situation normal is not going to happen. putin has been extremely weakened by this. now, moscow has stepped back from a major crisis, but experts warn that the danger is not over. that s right. wolf blitzer is in london. good morning. russia, obviously, appears a bit calmer this morning, but there are so many things we don t know right now. there is a sense of unease about what comes next. there certainly is, amara. good morning to you. good morning to you, victor, as well. russia experts say the rare uprising will likely have lasting impacts indeed.