inside russia. right now vladimir putin is still in charge. in fact, he might have just spoken for the first time since the attempted rebellion over the weekend. we ll tell you what he said and why there are questions about when and where this new video of putin the kremlin released this morning has come from. it has been a confusing and volatile 72 hours. longtime ally yevgeny prigozhin began and quickly called off an attempt to overtake the military leaders. how close did he get? why suddenly did he turn around? putin is known for viciously crushing dissent. why exactly did he let prigozhin go? the warlord hasn t been publicly seen or heard from since he apparently fled on saturday. we have reporters in moscow, ukraine and the white house along with experts on russia, putin and prigozhin. whatever happens in russia will have a profound impact not just on the stability of that country, but far-reaching consequences for the war in ukraine and well beyond that. it can affect
inside russia. right now vladimir putin is still in charge. in fact, he might have just spoken for the first time since the attempted rebellion over the weekend. we ll tell you what he said and why there are questions about when and where this new video of putin the kremlin released this morning has come from. it has been a confusing and volatile 72 hours. longtime ally yevgeny prigozhin began and quickly called off an attempt to overtake the military leaders. how close did he get? why suddenly did he turn around? putin is known for viciously crushing dissent. why exactly did he let prigozhin go? the warlord hasn t been publicly seen or heard from since he apparently fled on saturday. we have reporters in moscow, ukraine and the white house along with experts on russia,
be a turning point for russia and its war? that right there is where we will begin. the leader of the short-lived rebellion agreeing to exile in belarus. the future of the situation in ukraine is still uncertain. our own keir simmons, nbc s chief international correspondent is in russia with an inside look at what is going on. keir, the first question, the biggest one is where is vladimir putin? reporter: we don t know, katy, honestly. that doesn t mean the russian government doesn t know where he is, of course. but what we can say is that video you showed of president putin talking to young engineers, not at any moment mentioning the rebellion that russia just lived through at any time, that does suggest that video was potentially recorded before that uprising too place and that the kremlin has put it out just this morning. then the defense minister,
help it fund the war in ukraine. does that stop now? what happens? it s a great question, and look, i think the answer right now this early on is that we just don t know. there are a couple of things we do know, though, that i think are important to highlight. first is that, you know, the wagner group and prigozhin really, as its owner and head, has exposed the weakness of vladimir putin and his regime in the sense that, you know, sort of the old cliche of the emperor has no clothes. second, he s exposed the kremlin s dependence on private military contractors, which i think is also hugely significant here. putin really hasn t wanted to use his own military. that s why he s been engaged with contracting with the wagner group and even accessing the chechens and other paramilitary groups that are much more highly trained and effective on the
The strike followed warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin of possible stepped-up attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure after his forces suffered humiliating battlefield setbacks.