is going to support this government, because they can t stand on their own two feet, quite clearly they were getting a lot of support from western nations, so is russia going to come in behind once the french leave and support it? and in what form are they going to do that? while that is a question, what the french government will do and what the allies of the french government will do is a decision they have to take. we know what happens when we refuse to take action that we should take, and allow russia to exert enormous influence over syria, and it s our choice the degree that we want to engage in those situations, to let russia do their thing instead. i don t see how our thinking or our decision making should be influenced by whether or not it s done by putin directly or via a wagner group whatever, in whatever new form it takes. we have to take a view on that regardless,
preference, he created wagner, he may not have had control over how it evolved, but russian interests abroad through this way, ie through abroad through this way, ie through a strange private army, potential for corruption, buying off leaders and potentially corrupt states, he does not want to go back to doing it in the conventional way, ie with russian soldiers going into these african countries. he may be stronger now that prigozhin has been essentially assassinated, we have to assume, but he clearly doesn t want it to be done in this way. he was clearly happy are the way things were before and i think that s the most important thing in terms of the security of the world, it s clearly a defeat to some extent. i security of the world, it s clearly a defeat to some extent. i would think, for putin. a defeat to some extent. i would think, for putin. yet, a defeat to some extent. i would think, for putin. yet, but - a defeat to some extent. i would think, for putin. yet, but you vel
his mission. reporter: the reasons for putin s clemency not yet clear. but they may be linked to the philosophy at the heart of wagner s operations as was told to cnn last year. for years wagner has operated the kremlin s shadow foreign policy across the middle east and africa, and much closer to home. translator: putin sees prigozhin as a really effective commander. the more so that the successful functioning of the african project speaks in his favor. reporter: but it wasn t in prigozhin s strength. the biggest challenge to his power in more than 20 years. there are, of course, in all of the questions that this now raises for the ukrainian battlefields, but there are also those questions far beyond all of those wagner soldiers for all of those years who have played
between the gates of the circus in the city of rostov. and i think that this is the best picture to explain, in a nutshell, the current situation of wagner. stuck in the middle of it is still a war machine, but it is stuck in a circus of russian politics. i think wagner will not continue its existence in the current form. but i don t really care what is going to happen to them because, you know, we think about what is happening in ukraine. but if it changes its existence in its current form, that could have huge implications for you. we ve been talking about in bakhmut for months, wagner
just by switching. ooooh, let me put a reminder on my phone. on the top of the pile! oh. only pay for what you need. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. we re back with a special edition of outfront. we are live from dnipro in eastern ukraine deep in the east where the war is playing out. tonight, russia s security services are dropping criminal investigation into the wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin after he launched an armed insurrection inside russia and march on moscow. one of prigozhin s own commanders is now speaking out, speaking out to cnn for the first time since the rebellion. and melissa bell has more on this story that you will see first here outfront. reporter: shadowy mercenaries and their enigmatic leader