Cnn newsroom. Im Paula Reid In Washington tonight in russia, president Vladimir Putin is proclaiming Russian Unity after polls closed in a three today president ial election, with no genuine Opponent Running against him. Putin is expected to win, keeping him in office until 2030 and continuing as russias longestserving leader since soviet dictator Joseph Stalin cnns Matthew Chance is in moscow matthew, what else did putin have to say tonight well, it was a, an extraordinary post election sort of makeshift Press Conference, Ad Hoc Press Conference that he gave two members of the press, the local press the Foreign Press as well. There were members, theyre asking various questions. He just finished giving his thank you speech to volunteers and to supporters in the auditorium, saying that the election victory, that the final results hasnt come in yet, but the election victory a represented essentially, and im paraphrasing him here. A mandate for his continued work in the country, which we
Within the past hour or so, he confirmed actually reports that weve heard before that the kremlin was engaged in an negotiation to possibly free Alexey Navalny in the days before he finally died in an arctic penal you know, colony, a death by the way, that Vladimir Putin described as a sad event. Take a listen for mr. Navalnys passed away. Some colleagues told you that they were not members of the administration some people said that there is an idea to change mr. Navalny for some people who are in prison in western countries, you can believe me or you can choose not to. The person who spoke to me. You have not finished his sentence. Yes. I said i agree but unfortunately, what happened happened, we would exchange him i said and you pay only on one condition that he doesnt come back from the go. Let them sit there. Thats all that happens. What can we do about it . Well they, have it paula. A pretty interesting description of the negotiations that went on, apparently behind the scenes to
flying overjapan and taiwan. a new development in the uk s most notorious racist murder the killing of stephen lawrence. the bbc is naming a suspect. and eltonjohn closes this year s glastonbury. he did it in a record breaking way. we have all the reaction. first, we start in russia after those extraordinary events over the weekend. in the last half hour or so, we have been told to expect statements from vladimir putin. that information coming from various news agencies, we will keep across that for you if and when he does speak, we will of course bring them to you. we have, however, already heard from the head of the wagner group, yevgeny prighozhin. in his statement, made in an audio message, he shed some light on what happened over the weekend. his aim, he says, wasn t to overthrow the government when he took mercenary soldiers up through russia. he does admit shooting down russian jets through russia. he does admit shooting down russianjets in retaliation, he claims, for
weekend, saying they d stopped a civil war. the russian authorities have announced plans to disarm wagner they will also investigate how $1 million paid to the wagner group with spent. where spent. of its heavy weapons, but have also confirmed that a criminal case against the group has been dropped. translation: soldiers| and officers are the true defenders of the motherland, who in a difficult time for the country together with their comrades in arms stood in the way of the unrest, which inevitably would have resulted in chaos. you protected the constitution, the lies and the safety of our people. you save our form turmoil. in fact, you stopped civil war. live now to dr marina miron, a researcher at the centre for military ethics at king s college london. they will provide us their analysis. thank you so much. it is startling. i am just going to redo the quote, because it is reported as saying i said to vladimir putin we could waste per goshen no problem, if not on t
united states and all around the world. i m rosemary church. just ahead on cnn newsroom, donald trump vows to appeal his verdict after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming author, e. jean carroll. criminal charges filed against embattled congressman, george santos, sources say that he s expected to appear in a federal court as soon as wednesday. that s today. and pakistan s former prime minister, imran khan is expected at a special court hearing soon, just one day after his dramatic arrest sparked nationwide protests. good to have you with us. well the former u.s. president donald, trump is vowing to appeal the verdict from a federal jury that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation. economists, e. jean carroll had accused him of raping her, inside a department store dressing room in the 1990s. the jury did not find that carole proved he raped, or but awarded her $5 million in damages for battery and defamation. in a video, posted on the social m