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State Department Addresses 36-Hour Revolt In Russia; White House Press Briefing After Weekend Rebellion In Russia. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 26, 2023 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW MILLER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Position, as I said a number of times on what is an internal Russian matter, which is ultimately a decision for the Russian people to make. Third, I will say when you look at the events over the weekend, it only reinforces the need for us to continue to support Ukraine, which is the country that was invaded by Russia, by Russian military forces, and by Wagner forces. If anything, our support for Ukraine in the wake of this event is more steadfast than it's ever been.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

Well, so, I wasn't trying to say that you -- just real quick though. I wasn't trying to say that you were supporting Prigozhin in any way. I'm just saying this development was extremely dangerous. And I -- do you at least admit that? You know, this guy was 16 miles from their nuclear airbase.

MILLER: The secretary said yesterday that instability in a major country is always a concern. It's something we monitor closely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the world's largest nuclear threat.

MILLER: Yes, I think I answered the question. Saeed (PH) go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

MILLER: Before we -- I will come --

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: One more -- you -- Kylie first and then I go to you, and then we will change topics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One thing that you mentioned is -- sorry, I just figured exactly what you said.

MILLER: Me too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said the United States will continue to -- sorry, the United States will continue to impose costs on Wagner or its successor. Is there any indication right now that Wagner is actually standing up a successor organization?

MILLER: I think I said it's -- or its successor, if any. We've noted that the announcements by the Ministry of Defense that Wagner forces are supposed to be absorbed into the Ministry of Defense. We don't have any assessment of what will happen to the Wagner group, either in Ukraine or elsewhere around the world. But whether it's Wagner or whether it's a successor, or whether it's any other organization that conducts the activities that Wagner has conducted to destabilize countries, we will hold that org -- those organizations accountable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But no indication that Prigozhin is actively forming a successor organization at this moment?

MILLER: I just don't have any assessments at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. OK.

MILLER: Yes. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are media reports that the Biden administration had intelligence about the mutiny, rebellion, how you call it since mid-June, and is that correct? And also, if that's true, why didn't the administration issue any warnings to its citizens inside Russia since mid-June?

MILLER: So, a few things. Number one, I'm not going to speak to any intelligence matters as I never do from this podium. I will say you didn't exactly need a classified briefing to know that there were tensions between Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense. He's been quite open about those. And those tensions have been escalating in plain sight for anyone for the last several months.

I will say with respect to American citizens in Russia separate and apart from this matter, we have been quite clear for some time that any American citizens considering travel to Russia should not do so. And any American citizens who are in Russia should depart immediately. Right. Anything else is topic or I'm going to say if --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more.

MILLER: Yes, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is another report -- media report that State Department Treasury decided to postpone announcing new sanctions against Wagner following the mutiny. Can you confirm that?

MILLER: No. We never comment on the timing of sanctions actions. I will say generally, we always time the sanctions actions that we take for maximum impact and maximum effect. And we will continue to, as I said a moment ago, to hold Wagner or any other organization that conducts the destabilizing activities that Wagner has done across the world. We will continue to hold any such organization accountable. Russia?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MILLER: All right. Promised -- I promised Saeed (PH) he gets the first non-Russia question, so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I just wanted to follow up. So, the Russians, are they responding in real-time to all the outreach that the president ordered? And are you confident that they would respond similarly if it escalated to the nuclear crisis?

MILLER: I certainly wouldn't want to speculate about the second part of your question. The -- these were conversations that we had with Russians official -- Russian officials, so you know, the way conversation works. You say something, and they respond. So, yes, we're responding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One last follow-up on --

MILLER: You had -- you've had a few already. Russia?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Have you the possibility -- I know you said you don't want to speculate, but the possibility of Putin adopting more aggressive tactics in Ukraine as an attempt to consolidate his strength after this event?

MILLER: I wouldn't want to speculate about that at all. We have seen him take a number of aggressive actions. Even over the weekend, they continue to launch missile strikes on Ukraine.

All I can say are the action -- all I can speak to are the actions that we will take, which is to continue to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself and reclaim its territory. All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'll be -- (INAUDIBLE) --

MILLER: I'm going to go --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.

[14:05:03]

MILLER: You don't have to. Saeed, the floor is yours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said this demonstrates the need for us to continually support Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You've been listening to a briefing from the State Department there. State Department spokesman Matt Miller giving an update on the U.S. view of events in Russia saying in his words that the situation inside Russia remains dynamic and that the U.S. does not know how it will end. He went on to note, make clear the U.S. was not involved in any way saying that the U.S. does not take any position on -- in the ongoing dispute between Prigozhin's forces and Putin while noting dramatic events this weekend. Including, as he pointed out, that Prigozhin called into question the pretext for the war in Ukraine challenged Putin's leadership, and even took his forces to move -- to march on a Russian city taking over one and then heading towards the Capitol before they turned around. Other updates today from the leader of that armed rebellion. In a new statement today -- an audio statement today, the Wagner Group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, says that regime change was never the goal of his rebellion. Here is part of his audio statement released as he remains off the grid and out of sight.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, CHIEF, WAGNER MERCENARY (through translator): Two factors played into my decision to turn around. First factor. We wanted to avoid Russian bloodshed.

Second is we marched in demonstration of a protest not to overturn the power in the country. At this time, Alexander Lukashenko extended his hand and offered to find solutions for the further work of Wagner PMC in a legal jurisdiction.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Prigozhin also admitted in his statement that his forces had taken down Russian aircraft during the rebellion. Already, Moscow has tried to blame the West for the chaos this weekend that we should note is a common Kremlin tactic in the face of internal turmoil.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now. Nic, it's been really just 48 hours since Putin accused Prigozhin of treason against the state of Russia. And yet now, he seems to have been given a new lease on life, Prigozhin, that is. What is our best knowledge at this point as to where he is, Prigozhin, and his forces are?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: His forces are extensively on their way back to base. It's interesting that in Prigozhin's statement, that he said they had a plan because none of his troops wanted to do what the Ministry of Defense has told them to do, which is get out of Wagner and sign themselves up to the Russian military by the end of this month. They had a plan at the end of this month, he said to turn all that heavy equipment they have over to Russian military bases.

So, there's no real indication yet if any of that has started happening. If the -- if he is still under pressure, if Wagner is still under pressure to essentially wrap itself up and become something -- and become something else. I think that the fact that Prigozhin has said that Lukashenko in Belarus has given him some hope of keeping the Wagner Enterprise business going, giving it a little -- legal jurisdiction. That is -- would be a big pull for him to end up in Belarus to be able to do that. But I think for him to do that is going to have to trust that Russia isn't going to come and try and grab him again.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ROBERTSON: And we heard from Russian officials today in Moscow, saying, hey, we've still got a legal investigation into whatever was said on Saturday. Now, Monday, we're still investigating what you did.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ROBERTSON: Although again, later today, the Kremlin indicating that they need to take some time to analyze what they do about Wagner.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, we're going to speak to the Belarusian opposition leader in a short time to see what she knows about where Prigozhin actually is. You heard the State Department there perhaps in diplomatic understatement describing the situation in Russia as remaining dynamic. I know you've been pushing sources throughout the last 24 or 48 hours. What is our best understanding of the state of affairs in Russia right now in the wake of this?

ROBERTSON: The Kremlin is going to try to slow things down. They put out holding video of Putin, holding video of Sergei Shoigu who Prigozhin by the way, is still essentially -- not by name, but it's still essentially saying that he's doing a bad job and therefore he should go. The narrative that he had before.

So, it's a holding pattern by the Kremlin. Putin's not speaking. That allows him to disassociate himself to a degree from the disaster that played out over the weekend.

Lower people, the Prime Minister, various people within the -- within the Kremlin again are getting to speak on his behalf. Where they go from here? I think it'll perhaps be some time before the dust really settles.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ROBERTSON: And we know what happens. The question about the defense minister is, does he get replaced on all these very big and concerning issues, therefore?

[14:10:00]

SCIUTTO: Yes. And does the desk -- dust necessarily settle given how much the divisions -- internal divisions are exposed. Nic Robertson, always good to have you on. Thanks so much. Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's go now to the White House where our national security council Spokesman John Kirby is speaking about this weekend's revolt in Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: The United States closely monitored those events with President Biden receiving literally hour-by-hour updates from his national security team throughout the weekend. And those updates continue for him.

On Saturday morning, the president convened to call with his top national security aides to discuss the developments and any impacts that instability in Russia could have, as we -- as we prepared for a range of scenarios. And the president also convened calls with many of our allies and partners throughout the weekend. And those calls continue. National Security Adviser Sullivan, Secretary Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin also spoke with a number of their counterparts as well.

Now, as the president noted, it was important that both internally, here inside the administration, and externally, with our allies and partners, including with Ukraine, that we all shared our perspectives on what was going on. And we all stayed on the same page. We also made clear to all our allies and partners that the United States was not involved and would not get involved in these events. And that we view them as internal Russian matters.

We delivered that same message to the Russians themselves through appropriate diplomatic channels. I'll emphasize as the president did just a little bit ago, that it's too early to speculate on the impact these events might have or to reach any definitive conclusions except one, of course. And that is that no matter what happens next, we're going to stay closely coordinated with those allies and partners. And we're going to continue to stand with Ukraine.

As we're speaking here right now, Ukrainian forces are still fighting for their country. They're still trying to call back captured territory. They're still taking, and they're still inflicting casualties.

So, whatever occurred in Russia this past weekend did not change those facts. Didn't change the facts for us, didn't change those facts for Ukraine. They absolutely are not going to change our continued support. So, with that, I'm happy to take a few questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What implications do you expect this episode to have on Wagner's power and ability both inside Ukraine as a fighting force? Can it continue to be a fight -- force inside, but also more broadly, in Africa, whether they have a big footprint? Where does Wagner do you think go from here? Do you have any early read on that?

KIRBY: No, we don't know. And we don't know the answer to your question. It's just too soon to know.

We recognize that Wagner still has a presence in Africa. I think you know. We have worked to hold Wagner accountable.

They are listed as a transnational criminal organization. We have sanctioned them. We will continue to take those actions that are appropriate to try to limit their ability that can take -- continue to sow chaos and, and violence wherever it is. But it's just too soon to know, after the weekend's events where Wagner goes as an entity, or where Mr. Prigozhin goes in terms of his leadership of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know where Prigozhin is?

KIRBY: I don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ukraine this morning that Russia has completed preparations to potentially blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. Is that your assessment as well?

KIRBY: I'm not going to get into specific intelligence. I will tell you that we're watching this very closely. Seen that reporting.

We're -- we have, as you know, the ability near the plant to monitor radioactivity. And we just haven't seen any indication that that threat is imminent, but we're watching it very, very closely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More broadly, as Secretary Blinken said, this has exposed cracks in Putin's power. How concerned are you that Putin could now be more desperate, more unpredictable to the point that he could take more extreme measures to try and maintain his grip on power?

KIRBY: Yes. I won't speak for Vladimir Putin or hypothesize about what next steps he might take or might not take. I think it's important to take a step back here.

And remember that the Russians still have tens of thousands of troops inside Ukraine. And that as I said in my opening statement, there's still active fighting going on. The Ukrainians are still trying to claw back territory. The Russians are still vigorously trying to defend against those efforts by the Ukrainians. And casualties are being taken even as you and I are talking.

And I think it's important to remember that. So, what we're going to stay focused on is making sure that Ukraine can continue to succeed on the battlefield and not speculate about what this might or might not do on the political spectrum inside Russia. As President Biden said very well earlier, this is an internal matter for the Russian system.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Got you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see President Putin has been weakened as a result of these events over the weekend?

[14:15:02]

KIRBY: Again, we're focused on what's going on in Ukraine. This is an internal Russian matter. And I think it's important to remember that Mr. Putin still commands a very large and very capable military.

And the bulk of that military is across the border in Ukraine. And that military is defending itself against Ukrainian attacks. And we've got to stay focused on what really matters most in front of us, and that's helping Ukraine succeed on the battlefield. And that's what we're going to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) If there were U.S.-Russian military context over this?

KIRBY: I -- all I can tell you is that we, through various diplomatic channels, conveyed those messages to Russia directly. One that there was no U.S. involvement here, nor will -- nor will there be or would there be. And that we expect Russia to observe its obligations -- its international obligations for the protection of diplomatic personnel inside Moscow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, just the last follow-up on that. Do you have any indication that Russia thinks that the U.S. what -- the U.S. and the West, NATO, etcetera, were involved?

KIRBY: Well, I can't begin to speculate what Russians think or what Mr. Putin thinks because --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

KIRBY: Yes, look. We saw -- we saw some social media activity by Foreign Minister Lavrov, who seemed to allude that some sort of investigation was in the offing at the suspicion of the involvement of Western intelligence services. And I think we could all spare Mr. Lavrov the effort by just making it clear, there was no U.S. involvement whatsoever. No Western involvement.

KELLY O'DONNELL, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NBC NEWS: I wanted to follow up on that as well. Given the emphasis both you and the president have made today, do you think that that issue of U.S. involvement or our ability to know that something was going to happen in advance contributes to the instability of the moment?

KIRBY: The -- we're all concerned by any potential for instability in Russia, given the stakes and given what's going on in Ukraine. And I'm not going to talk about intelligence matters one way or the other here.

The rift between Mr. Prigozhin and the Wagner group and the Russian Ministry assurance was playing -- Ministry of Defense was playing out in public for all of you to see. The tensions, the frustrations, the anger, the accusations, all played out publicly.

That was no secret whatsoever. Now, what that tension does inside Russia, again, that's an internal Russian matter. What we've got to do is not get distracted by that and make sure that we're focused on supporting Ukraine.

O'DONNELL: I want to follow up on a different subject briefly. At the question and answer event with the president and Prime Minister Modi, our colleague, Sabrina Siddiqui from Wall Street Journal asked a question of the Prime Minister.

And since that time, she has been subjected to some intense online harassment from people inside India. Some of them are politicians, they have associations with the appropriate Modi government. And in part, they've been targeting her because of her Muslim faith and questioning her own heritage. Because this was supposed to be about democracy. And in some form, I wanted to find out what is the White House's reaction to the fact that a journalist posing a question to a Democratic leader is getting that kind of pushback.

KIRBY: We're aware of the reports of that harassment. It's unacceptable. And we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere under any circumstances.

That's just that's as complete and unacceptable as antithetical to the very principles of democracy that you're right. We were on display last week during the state visit.

JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Kirby, so do you agree that the counter- offensive -- the Ukraine counter-offensive has gone more slowly than expected, then do you have a deal? Do you analyze that, considering the Wagner group will be busy doing something else that it will help us get to our best?

KIRBY: I don't know what the Wagner group is going to be busy doing here. Again, I think it's too soon to (INAUDIBLE) questions. It's just too soon to know how this is going to play out. Whether in Africa or elsewhere, it is certainly in Ukraine.

And I am not -- I have said before and I'll say it again today, I'm not going to do armchair quarterbacking of the counteroffensive from Mr. from this podium. That's up to President Zelenskyy to speak to.

They -- are focus is on making sure that they have what they need to succeed, whether it's training, tools, equipment, and you're going to see another round of support announced from this administration for Ukraine in terms of weapons and capabilities this week. So, we're focused on that. That's what -- that's where our heads are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And just to make sure, Kirby, to understand well. The NSC -- how much did the NSC know about the development -- the development of this -- of this Wagner movement towards Moscow before it started?

[14:20:02]

KIRBY: Yes. As -- I think I mentioned to Kelly, the dispute and the tension between Wagner and the Russian Ministry of Defense was widely known. It was public --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rolling towards Moscow with --

KIRBY: It goes -- all that tension was public. I'm not going to talk about intelligence matters.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Ed, go ahead and -- (INAUDIBLE) --

ED O'KEEFE, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE & POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, CBS NEWS: OK. Thank you, John. Thank you for doing this. So, what should we call what transpired over the weekend? Is it a mutiny, coup, or attempted coup, an armed rebellion?

KIRBY: We're not slapping a bumper sticker on it, Ed.

O'KEEFE: In the U.S. assessment, was the objective ever really to directly threaten Putin and the Kremlin?

KIRBY: I'm sorry, can you say that again?

O'KEEFE: In the U.S.'s assessment, was an ever the Wagner group's intent to directly target Putin or the Kremlin? KIRBY: Again, I would let the party speak for themselves here in terms of what transpired and what motivations there were for these actions. That's not something that we could accurately or even appropriately speak to. What I can speak do is we made sure that we lashed up early and have stayed lashed up with our allies and partners to make sure we all have the same kind of perspective on this, and we're approaching it from the same way. And that we made proper -- appropriate communications with the Russians about our -- their obligations to protect our diplomats, and to make sure that they knew we weren't involved.

O'KEEFE: You were describing early attempts to communicate with the Russians about what happened. Did they respond in real-time to any of that outreach?

KIRBY: There were appropriate diplomatic discussions that occurred over the course of the weekend again, to send those two messages.

O'KEEFE: So, is the U.S. confident the Russians would be responsive in the event of a nuclear or other real crisis, given how they were this weekend?

KIRBY: I would just tell you, Ed, and this has been the case for the last 16 months. I mean, Russia has a nuclear power that we have been monitoring as best weekend, Russian strategic posture, their nuclear capabilities. That continues. And we've seen no indication.

Outside of the blustery rhetoric, we've seen no indication that there's any intent to use nuclear weapons inside Ukraine. And I can also assure you that we've done nothing -- we've seen nothing that would -- that would compel us to change our own strategic deterrent posture.

O'KEEFE: But just given how the interactions went over the weekend, you're confident they'd respond in real time if there was some other kind occur?

KIRBY: We had -- we had good direct communications with the Russians over the course of the weekend. It's our expectation that that would be able to continue going forward.

O'KEEFE: Just to follow on that real quick. Given all that interaction this weekend, what you guys have seen? Can you say right now who's in charge of the Russian military?

KIRBY: The Russian military -- I mean, first of all, I wouldn't -- it's not my job to speak for another military. But there's absolutely no indication that there's been any changes that we've seen in the chain of command for the Russian military forces.

JEAN-PIERRE: (INAUDIBLE). John?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Karine. John, the NATO Summit is just a few weeks away. How have the events of this past weekend in any way changed or modified the agenda for the NATO Summit? KIRBY: I think it's -- again, too soon here. This just happened over the weekend. So, I think I'd be fibbing to you if I told you that there was some sort of big agenda item changed because of what happened over the weekend.

We'll have to see how this plays out. It's just too soon to know what the impacts are. It's going to be an important NATO Summit, regardless because we are now you know, almost a year and a half into war here in Ukraine.

We've got a new NATO member in Finland, and hopefully soon, a 32nd member. So, there's an awful lot on the agenda to speak to and it's a critical time for the alliance and the president is looking forward to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Administration subscribe to the view as it relates to Russia and leadership, who essentially leads that country that the devil you know is better than the devil that you don't know.

KIRBY: I'm not sure I completely understand the question, but let me tuck it this way. And if I'm wrong --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can try a little (INAUDIBLE) --

KIRBY: OK. Because I knew -- you lost me there a little bit on the devil stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm sorry to get into that. I was just simply saying, would you prefer to have Vladimir Putin leading Russia or an entity like the Wagner group or someone named from the Wagner group leading the Russian government?

KIRBY: We believe it's up to the Russian people to determine who their leadership is. And we would prefer to see Russia not invade their neighboring countries. We would prefer to see Russia, since they already did that, remove all their troops from Ukraine and end the war today, which they could do. That's what we prefer.

JEAN-PIERRE: Justin. (PH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. John, you said a number of times you've declined to comment on Putin's grip on power in Russia by saying it's an internal Russian matter. Is that a deliberate decision by the U.S. government to avoid contributing to the notion that the U.S. was somehow behind this, or does the White House simply not have an assessment at this moment of his grip on power?

[14:25:15]

KIRBY: We're just not going to involve ourselves in speaking to an internal domestic Russian issue right now. We're staying focused on supporting Ukraine. And the -- I just want to disavow you of any idea that the reason why we're saying we weren't involved has something to do with not wanting to comment about the situation in Moscow and Mr. Putin's leadership. It was important to say it for -- the on the face of it, that we weren't involved and we have no intention of being involved. What we are going to be involved in is supporting Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then there's been you know a brand crude increase this morning. There was higher European natural gas prices. How closely is the administration monitoring potential energy price shocks as resulting in instability in Russia?

KIRBY: We've been watching it since the beginning of the war -- actually, before the beginning of the war, and we'll continue to do that.

JEAN-PIERRE: April?

Get into the weeks off of Jeff's question on weakness. Are you concerned about the instability in Russia because of nuclear capability if they have to come out stronger they can use that? Is that the reason for your concern?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: All right, you're listening to John Kirby there from the White House briefing room following this situation that we saw unfolding in Russia over the weekend. He was asked to put a label on this. Is this a revolt? Is this a coup?

He said they are not going to slap a bumper sticker on it. So, he wasn't going to exactly label it I think as many people have desired to see this be. He said they haven't seen a change in the military chain of command as far as Russia goes, and reiterating what we have heard time and again, including for President Biden, that the U.S. was not involved in this, that Western allies of Ukraine were not involved in this, counter to some of the claims that we have heard from Russia.

So, a lot going on. We just heard the State Department briefing. Were heard this briefing coming out of the White House. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)