head of the wagner mercenary group yevgeny prigozhin. it was the most serious challenge to russian president vladimir putin s regime. the uprising was almost over as quickly as it began. we learned just a short time ago that chechen special forces deployed to the region are withdrawing. and the wagner chief confirmed that his troops were turning around and ending their march towards moscow. 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. russia says it is dropping charges against prigozhin. he agreed to leave russia for neighboring belarus, but there is no word on where he is right now. as for vladimir putin, experts say he emerges from this crisis weaker among world leaders and domestically. democratic congressman jason crow serves on the intelligence and foreign affairs committees. he say
good morning. welcome to this special edition of cnn this morning. we have the latest developments out of russia after wagner mercernaries forces ended their rebellion against russian president vladimir putin. i m victor blackwell. i m amara walker. we are joined by wolf blitzer in london. let s get you caught up on where things stand this morning. it appears russia has been pulled back from the brink of chaos after the country struck a deal to end an armed insurrection by the head of the wagner mercernaries group yevgeny prigozhin. it was the most serious challenge to republican president vladimir putin s iron-fisted regime since he came to power in 2000. the uprising was over almost as quickly as it began. the kremlin announced an agreement and the wagner chief confirmed his troops were ending their march towards moscow. translator: therefore, realizing all the responsibility for the fact that russian blood will be shed from one of the sides, we turn our columns aro
Escalating the crisis. joined by natasha bertrand and priscilla alvarez. priscilla, the white house is staying quiet. they are, though, in constant discussions with u.s. allies. what are you hearing? that s right, victor. and they are doing that as they are actively monitoring this situation. president biden just yesterday spoke with the leaders of france, germany and the uk in which all three of them, four of them discussed that they were watching the situation in russia as well as reaffirming their support for ukraine. now, it wasn t just president biden making calls yesterday, but also his top officials, including secretary of state antony blinken who spoke with g7 allies, eu counterparts as well as the ukrainian foreign ministry. so it was clear that this power struggle could have ramifications on the war in ukraine and the white house and administration officials were making calls to their allies and partners as this was all unfolding. now, president biden is at camp david wit
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.
Of course, affect putin and how he oversees the country. will he consolidate power, try to escalate things ukraine to make an example out of what happened with wagner and try to show the world he actually still is in control. u.s. officials don t know at this point whether prigozhin is actually going to remain in exile in belarus. where is he at this point. they simply don t know right now. so these are all things that they are going to be looking at moving forward because the challenge that prigozhin posed to putin is perhaps the most significant he facedth last two decades. they are seeing how it will impact russia s military and kremlin leadership here and seeing whether putin tries to consolidate power even further as a result. amara, victor. natasha bertrand, priscilla, thank you. wolf blitzer back with us from