hi, bret. bret: this is america s newsroom. 36 hours of chaos threatening vladimir putin s grip on power. mercenary group that was supporting russia in ukraine turning against the kremlin and marching towards moscow. dana: the rebels were members of the wagner group. their leader called off the revolte at the 11th hour. not clear why. his whereabouts right now are unknown. ukrainian forces taking advantage of the chaos. they are reporting gains against russian troops in the east. russian defense minister is making his first public appearance since the revolt doing little to quell speculation that putin is in serious jeopardy. much of his longevity is tied to what happens inside ukraine. he knows full well his future is dependent on what happens in ukraine. i don t see him admitting that he made a terrible mistake here and pull all his troops out. you see a real public perception going against putin. he doesn t have a strong sense of being a strong man anymore. see
for a long time. he uses maybe one part of his leadership. he was up one day then the other day, pushback on somebody else. kind of the classic divide and rule. i think prigozhin was a handy tool for him to put pressure on shrug you, maybe you blame shrug you or others for what was happening. but it is obviously gunning out of control. he thought he could control, now he can t. how does this and do you think? like i said, i think in the short term he will be able to squash this. but in the long term, dictators, it s when that shrink in the armor shows that things start to change. he has control moscow through fear for 20 years, just like in eastern me in other places. once they start to change, people become not afraid anymore. or they see the possibility of change, then things may spiral out of control for dictator. this is a really dangerous time for people. all right, thank you so much for your expertise. we appreciate the time. it is the most dramatic threat so fa
way towards the city. earlier today, that group seized control of military headquarters in a southern key russian city. they are now on a northern track towards the capital city of moscow. about halfway. this is also a view for you this morning, moscow s mayor, just moments ago, saying a counterterrorism operation declared in the city, in moscow. this is canceling the workday, it is asking people to stay home. obviously not a common situation or request. also new for you at 12 pm eastern in new york city, vladimir putin mobilizing troops in an address to the nation vowing to crush what he calls an armed rebellion. this rebellion led by the group s leader, yevgeny prigozhin. whose forces, up until the past couple of days, we re fighting alongside russia in ukraine. today, not that day. not that way. on friday, prove goshen accused the kremlin of invading ukraine on false pretenses. putin today vowing to punish anyone who takes up arms against a russian military. that s last 24
come again. -sorry, what was that? introducing the next generation 10g network only from xfinity. hello i m alicia menendez the future starts now. with ali meridian thank you for joining our coverage as the world watches a crisis unfold in russia it has been a while 24 hours testing vladimir putin s hold on power. the kremlin now protecting the world and it reached a deal with the leader of a mercenary group that has gone rogue. prigozhin the leader of the mercenary group ordered his forces to return to their bases abandoning an armed rebellion that had them heading towards moscow the new video showing prigozhin greeted with cheers as he left the city of hours ago. that is where he had taken control of the key russian military facility an act of retaliation after russia s military launched a missile strike on wagner group camps, the kremlin has said that prigozhin would quote go to belarus and wagner soldiers would not be prosecuted, nbc news has not independently confi
now. our second hour star welcome . i m yasmin vossoughian, if you just running, as welcome. if you re sticking with, us we re thankful for that. we have got a lot of developments in russia, as the head of the wagner group, yevgeny prigozhin, says his mercenary group is turning back and abandoning s march towards moscow. he made that announcement after the president of belarus claimed he held talks with prigozhin. i want to bring in nbc s met in standing back and trying. this math, you heard this thing firsthand. talk us through what you heard from prigozhin, the revelation of this, quote unquote, deal. thank you, yasmin. obviously, very shocking development, after what has been, as we ve discussed, very astonishing 24 hours in russia. we had another audio message from prigozhin. he speaks very intensely, always, part of his charm, for lack of better word. we saw that again in this latest message, also a little bit taking a step back. he s admitting that he stepping down