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Wagner Group Leader Stops March To Moscow; Russia Says Prigozhin Won't Be Charged, Will Head To Belarus; Who Is Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin Ally Turned Rebel? Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 24, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:55]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

A dramatic and perplexing chain of events unfolding in Russia today with much of the world on edge ahead of the Wagner mercenary group have roughly called off in advance in Moscow. The apparent insurrection was reportedly aimed at Russia's military leadership over its handling of the war in Ukraine. Wagner forces were almost unchallenged as their columns marched toward Moscow.

Here, locals are heard cheering for the mercenaries. They said they had captured key military facilities in two Russian cities. They made it about halfway to Moscow before suddenly turning back. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, HEAD OF WAGNER GROUP (through translator): Therefore, realizing all the responsibilities 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And here's Prigozhin receiving a hero's welcome as he leaves. The Kremlin says he will not be prosecuted, if you believe that, and that Prigozhin will go to Belarus.

We're following all the latest developments. Let's begin with CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

Nic, what do you make of this notion that Prigozhin just heads off to Belarus without some kind of retaliation from Putin? That doesn't sound very Putinesque.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And rewind to this morning, not Putinesque at all because Putin was saying exactly the opposite. These treasonous people will be held accountable for an insurrection.

So what happens in Belarus? What conditions is Prigozhin being released there? Is he free to roam? Is he under some sort of house arrest? Would he have to stay in -- you know, in Minsk or another city? Will he be allowed to speak publicly? Will he be allowed to speak politically about Russia, about Putin, about Ukraine? You know, what are the limits, what are constraints, what are the terms? We just don't know.

What does Lukashenko, Belarus' president, what does he get out of this deal? And also that key point that Putin never answered in his statement earlier in the day. He's been silent since. This was Prigozhin's claim that Valery Gerasimov, the Russian military chief of staff, his boss, the Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, falsely went into this war. He blamed them for the war. The way that they fought it, the loss of life, the lack of training, the lack of ammunition.

What's happened to them? We haven't heard a whisper from them either. Are they now off the scene? Will they be removed? There's so much we don't know about this, Jim, and I think until we get some of those facts, we can't give it a really thorough analysis other than to say it is as -- at the end of this day is as shocking as the beginning of it.

ACOSTA: It really is, Nic. And what does this say about Putin's hold on Russia especially since Belarus says President Lukashenko was the one who brokered this deal? This was not, you know, Putin the strongman today.

ROBERTSON: Not at all. You know, rewind a few years, Putin was the guy that could organize all these oligarchs. He pulled all the strings, could balance all these interesting -- all these different interested political, military, economic powers in the country. He held it all together. The air has gone out of that balloon. This is a guy who looks weak.

Not only did he fail to deliver a quick victory in Ukraine in the first place over a year ago, he's kind of got stuck in the mud and barely made any gains of any note in Ukraine this year. And now he's had this insurrection. 25,000 heavily armed men on the streets of Russia challenging Russia's forces. This is just unheard of in Russia's recent history. And Putin now owns that.

He is weaker and all of those competing powers around him who have been in awe and afraid to cross him are now going to look at him and go, OK, you know, let me have a bigger slice of this economic pie.

[19:05:04]

Let me do this. Let me do that. You, Putin, stop me. Where does that end? It's weaker and therefore Russia's ability to fight the war in Ukraine is also weakened.

ACOSTA: And what about Lukashenko's role in all of this? I mean, what does that say that Putin had to turn to Lukashenko of all people to negotiate some kind of a deal here, it sounds like, to at least -- I mean, who knows if this is going to reignite, but at the moment, this leader of Belarus was able to broker at least what appears to be some kind of ceasefire between Putin and Prigozhin? ROBERTSON: Yes. You're right to say reignite, Jim, because I think you

could put a match to any part of this at the moment, and it could just rip up into flames again. Yes, Lukashenko, just a couple of years ago and a fraudulent was barely clinging to power. Massive street protests. It took support from Russia, has been increasingly propped up and even lent on by Putin, and was host to Russian forces and Russian aircraft involved in the invasion of Ukraine. And indeed, Russia has made a big point of moving, it says, tactical nuclear warheads into Belorussia.

This is all on Lukashenko's watch. Lukashenko who's looked like a far weaker figure than Putin and a far weaker figure than he used to be a few years ago. How is it that he now has the power and the influence to negotiate this deal where the Kremlin points out that Lukashenko and Prigozhin have a 20-year history. Lukashenko was able to sort of play on some of that, to have influence over Prigozhin.

Did Prigozhin realize that he'd miscalculated? That he didn't get the support that he wanted? Was this always his plan and this was his best option, his get out of jail free card, apparently, because otherwise he would have been put up against a wall or similar and shot? Were those the options presented to him?

It's so hard to tell. But Lukashenko's role in this, does this upend, understanding of the power balance between Putin and Lukashenko? I don't think so. We don't know enough about it, but it does shows you how much things, the previous status quo is changing.

ACOSTA: No question about it. It's changing hour by hour. All right, Nic Robertson, thank you very much for that analysis.

And joining me now, CNN military analyst and former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, Kimberly Dozier, our CNN global affairs analyst and senior managing editor of "Military Times," and David Sanger, CNN national security analyst and national security correspondent for the "New York Times."

General Hertling, let me get back to you. We were speaking in the previous hour. What do you think Prigozhin's intentions were? Was this all some big stunt that succeeded a lot more wildly than he could have possibly imagined? Is that potentially what happened here? Why did he stop so abruptly?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Jim, I'd suggest it was a stunt that got a little bit out of control. I mean, all indicators, the government assessment was that Prigozhin was attempting to counter the new law within Russia to make all the mercenaries that are part of this DMC's sign contracts with the government, in effect, putting Prigozhin underneath the control and command of the minister of Defense Shoigu.

Shoigu and Prigozhin absolutely cannot stand each other. Neither one of them have military backgrounds. Neither one of them are soldiers. But they just see things from a very different perspective. Prigozhin is out after power. And as we talked the last hour, he's looking to be his own personal warlord with no ideology, whereas Shoigu is attempting to just make as much money and grift as much as he can, and he's been doing that for 10 years.

They hate each other. So this was an attempt by Prigozhin to make Putin have a decision. Who is the top dog? And listening to what you said to Nic a minute ago, I'd suggest to you the top dog of Putin took his chihuahua Prigozhin and sent him off to deal with his poodle, Lukashenko, to carry through with the dog analogy. So what we're talking about is getting this free-floating electron under control.

ACOSTA: And Kimberly, U.S. intelligence sources were taken by surprise apparently by how quickly Prigozhin marched his forces toward Moscow. What do you think caused him to suddenly turn back and stop this insurrection? I mean, a lot of people were watching this and wondering, could Prigozhin somehow pull this off? What were you hearing from your sources throughout the day?

[19:10:04]

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think what we saw was Prigozhin over the past several days getting more and more emotional. And when his own troops were fired upon, reacting emotionally. Reacting in the folk hero style that has been lionized across Russia and by Vladimir Putin. So his reaction to march on Moscow after being betrayed fits into a Russian narrative that makes sense even to Putin.

And I think what Vladimir Putin understood was that, if he took Prigozhin out, he could stir the hatred of his own people. You don't make a hero and then destroy a hero. It just doesn't -- that doesn't play well long term if you want to stay in power.

On Prigozhin's side of things, look, he's lived to fight another day. From his perspective, he doesn't have air power. There were some reports that some of his forces were getting hit by air power. He knew that it's open territory between where he was and Moscow, and that Putin couldn't risk that fighting reaching the edge of the capital.

So at this point, he goes on to live another day in Belarus and to possibly form a political counterweight. But also as many of us have said over the past couple of hours, he should stay away from high floors.

ACOSTA: And David Sanger, I mean, you know, Vladimir Putin in power for 23 years. General Hertling was talking about lap dogs a few moments ago. Vladimir Putin does not exactly look like the alpha dog tonight. And I just have to wonder, you know, how does he let Prigozhin get away with something like this? You know, we've seen so many reports over the years of high-level oligarchs in Russia falling out of windows. People being poisoned and so on. And yet Prigozhin just gets to go off to Belarus? That doesn't compute.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It doesn't, Jim. And that's why there is so much about this story that we don't understand yet. So first of all, we don't understand what the core deal was here. Does Prigozhin get to go to Belarus and Shoigu was out in a couple of days, a couple of weeks, a couple of months? Is that the deal? Does Prigozhin still have the ability to communicate publicly from Belarus, to get on his Telegram channel and again denounce as incompetent and corrupt the leadership of Shoigu, the defense minister, and Vitaly Gerasimov, who was the -- their equivalent of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

We don't know what those terms are. And it's possible that they are not worked out in any detail yet.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SANGER: But, you know, I think from listening to this conversation, there are some things that have changed dramatically in these past 24 hours. It would be easy to say we're going back to Putin as a leader. We are. But a week ago, we didn't see any significant cracks in his power base. We just saw a few around the edges. Now we've seen a big one. A week ago we thought the Chinese were completely behind it. They have to be pretty nervous about this.

A week ago, we thought that Prigozhin was capable of complaining but not capable of running a coup. It looks like he came pretty close. So there's a lot that has altered. And you sort of have the sense that this isn't the end of the story.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, General Hertling, you and I have so many conversations about the war in Ukraine and how many conversations have we had about the situation in Bakhmut, and how the Wagner forces were having some success there. And I just have to wonder, what happens in the war in Ukraine. Isn't it in Vladimir Putin's interests to maybe turn his attention away from Ukraine and maybe solidify things at home? How might all of this affect what is taking place in Ukraine?

HERTLING: What I believe you're going to see, Jim, within Ukraine is Putin has had ever increasing multiple fronts. You know, it was initially just an action against the Ukrainian military. Now there is a large number of Russian troops defending in Ukraine against an ever- increasing Ukrainian offensive. They are confused and a little bit disoriented by some of the things that occurred today.

You have movement by the Wagner forces. We don't know where they're going to play in the next phase of this operation. There's guerrilla activities by operatives throughout Russia. There's continued Russian volunteer corps. There is special ops from Ukraine having more and more actions, increasing resistance from the allies as the former CIS series. Fewer uprisings in several key partner states like Belarus and Georgia.

[19:15:06]

Increasing calls for war crime tribunals. I think we're beginning to see more and more exponentially strong pressures against Putin, and I think he is cracking. So yes. One of the things I thought as of last night at about 8:00, would this cause Mr. Putin to consolidate and pull back under the threat of a potential implosion?

It did not happen then. But I've got to tell you, there's still unbelievable pressure on this individual and there is continuing to be increasing pressure and we haven't even started the main effort of the Ukrainian operations yet.

ACOSTA: And Kimberly, I'm thinking back to what Ben Wedeman was reporting just before the top of the hour when he was saying there were -- essentially saying there were some high hopes in Ukraine based on what Prigozhin was doing. And really the day is now ending with maybe a little bit of disappointment inside Ukraine that it just didn't -- it didn't happen the way that perhaps they had hoped. What is your sense of it? Or is this perhaps a turning point for Ukraine? Is this an opportunity for Ukraine?

DOZIER: I'm thinking about the Russian troops on the ground who saw Prigozhin as a bit of a folk hero for them. Saw his troops as their point of the spear. The people that got sent in to break the frontlines so that they could follow afterwards. Now they're left to fight on alone. They were already demoralized. I think they've got some severe losses ahead. And that's what might lead Putin to do, as Mark suggested, to pull back and consolidate.

But for now, I think the Russian commanders have been challenged. They've got to approve that they can go it alone without Prigozhin and their forces, I think, have lost confidence in them, and we may see it play out on the battlefield to Ukraine's advantage.

ACOSTA: And David, the Kremlin says it will drop the charges against Prigozhin as the Wagner leader is apparently going to Belarus. You know, but just about an hour and a half ago we were hearing from the Kremlin they don't know where he is. They don't have an exact idea of his whereabouts. I mean do you buy all of this, that, you know, Prigozhin is just going to move off to Belarus and all is forgiven? That just doesn't sound very Putinesque.

SANGER: It sure doesn't. So first of all, we've got no real insight into the course of Russian justice. It was about 24 hours ago we heard they were opening an investigation. It was about 15 hours ago that Putin called him a traitor, and it was about three or four hours ago that they announced that there wouldn't be any charges after all. So if we were wondering just how political the prosecution process is in Russia, I think we've just had a really fabulous miniature case study.

But I think, to your question about whether this is Putinesque, that sort of depends on what he thinks the end point is. We've seen people get exiled before and, you know, get poisoned as you pointed out, get killed in other ways. It's possible that Putin doesn't know how he would replace the kind of services that the Wagner Group has provided him in Syria, in Africa, and then in Ukraine.

They've obviously been among the more effective forces. So that leaves Putin with a bit of a problem. And there is a third shoe that we've got to -- we've not yet heard drop. There are many American officials who think that at some point Putin is going to turn around and say this entire thing was a plot by the United States. I don't think it had anything to do with the United States. I think it was purely internal.

Prigozhin has been sort of signaling this dispute for many months. But you can imagine the utility to Putin of saying this was a U.S. or a NATO or whatever at the moment that he's getting ready to install nuclear weapons in Belarus along with Mr. Prigozhin.

ACOSTA: Right. One has to think that Putin has a few more power plays up his sleeve but not a good day for the Russian leader by any stretch.

All right, Kimberly Dozier, David Sanger, retired Lieutenant Geneal Mark Hertling, thanks to all of you. Greatly appreciate it. Great conversation.

Yevgeny Prigozhin has had many titles over the years. But how did this wealthy oligarch who used to be one of Vladimir Putin's closest confidantes find himself at the head of an apparent mutiny? We'll talk about that.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:42]

ACOSTA: Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin previously known as Putin's chef has a long history with Russia's president. He became one of the richest men in Russia thanks to lucrative contracts with the Kremlin.

Here's CNN's senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Jim. Well, Yevgeny Prigozhin certainly has had a meteoric rise and of course in part that was due to the fact that he was very close to Vladimir Putin. However, he was also pretty important to Vladimir Putin as well. All this started from very small beginnings. Prigozhin was actually in jail in the Soviet Union in the 1980s and then started off selling hotdogs in St. Petersburg in the 1990s.

That was there that he founded a catering company and became known as Vladimir Putin's chef. From there, things went up pretty quickly for Yevgeny Prigozhin. He founded what then became a media empire. Of course, also with a big propaganda wing that the U.S. says meddled heavily in the presidential election in 2016. He was of course indicted for that in the United States. But then there was also the Wagner private military company.

You know, Wagner is really one of those organizations that I've seen firsthand at a bunch of places along the way. First and foremost, there was Syria around 2016 where, you know, we went to certain places where we saw some of these Wagner operatives who back then were essentially doing base protection for the Russian forces who were on the ground there.

[19:25:08]

Now from there on, they started getting involved in the oil business in Syria. Then diamonds and gold in Africa. Also training forces in Africa as well. But it really wasn't until the war in Ukraine that this became a full-on army. Certainly if you looked at some of the things that happened in the battle of Bakhmut where they used tanks, artillery, and other heavy weapons as well, it certainly seemed as though now, Jim, they seemed to be really at the apex, at the height of their power, and now it seems as though Yevgeny Prigozhin may have gone one step too far and certainly seems to have lost the power struggle -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much. That very important reporting there.

Leaders in Washington and around the world seemingly caught off guard by Prigozhin's action. President Biden leaving this morning for Camp David to monitor the unfolding situation. Up next, how his administration is responding. We'll talk about that.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: It has been an extraordinary day in Russia with an insurrection suddenly called off. With much of the world watching, military columns of the mercenary, Wagner Group abruptly halted their advance on Moscow.

Wagner forces claimed to capture key military facilities in two Russian cities in advance about halfway to Moscow before turning back.

Wagner's chief who has been an increasingly strident critic of Russia's military leadership says he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

Russia says Yevgeny Prigozhin will not be prosecuted. He will move to Belarus, a country led by a Putin ally who claims to have brokered the peaceful resolution.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House as this fast moving story continues to develop.

You know, Jeremy, kind of confusing day from a US intelligence standpoint. Intelligence officials had clues as to what Prigozhin was planning.

Sources tell CNN top government officials were though caught off guard by the speed with which the situation unfolded last night and escalated today. Some senior officials fairly canceling their trips abroad.

What's the latest that you're learning? I mean, it sounds as though they're trying to get a handle on this.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no doubt about it.

And listen, Jim, US intelligence officials have long been monitoring the tensions between Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group and the Russian Ministry of Defense.

As early as January, the national security spokesman, John Kirby referred to the Wagner Group as a rival power center to the Russian Ministry of Defense and we are told that US intelligence officials had begun to believe that Prigozhin was preparing something.

But nonetheless, Jim, the speed at which all of this evolved over the last 24 hours really caught US officials, and clearly Vladimir Putin as well by surprise.

And so over the last 24 hours, US officials have been actively monitoring the situation, but they have been very careful in terms of their public statements not to go very far.

We've heard very little, in fact, on the record from US officials other than to say that they are monitoring the situation and reading out some of those calls that we know that President Biden and top US officials have been having with their allied counterparts.

President Biden this morning spoke with top NATO allies, his counterparts, the president of France, for example, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, and leader of Germany. And we also know that Secretary of Defense Austin, Secretary of State Blinken, and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, they have also been in touch with their counterparts as well.

Now, as I've said, US officials have been cautious about what they're saying in public, in part because of the fast speed of these developments, and also to avoid any association with this armed insurrection and any kind of Western support.

Now, there's a number of questions that remain to be solved here and I can tell you in speaking with officials that it is clear that the White House doesn't have all of the answers yet to the questions that remain. In particular, what is the future for Vladimir Putin? And how will this affect Russia's war in Ukraine?

We know that Ukraine has now advanced in new offensive ways. It remains to be seen what the impact will be of this insurrection -- attempted insurrection by Prigozhin will be on those frontline positions in Ukraine -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, a key question batted around Washington for years. What does Russia look like after Vladimir Putin? I think officials need to start thinking about that possibility big time now.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

Now to our Kiley Atwood over at the State Department.

Kiley, again, we're told that Western allies, including the US were caught off guard by the rapid escalation of events in Russia, but also sources telling CNN that US intelligence officials did see some signs of this that Prigozhin might challenge Russia's military, as Jeremy was talking about.

What kind of diplomatic reaction are you picking up on today? And what is your sense of this, I guess, you know, what is going on inside Russia right now? Putin's hold on power, and how intelligence officials, diplomatic officials are viewing that today? KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, when you

talk to folks at the State Department, what they are pointing to is the fact that the secretary of State has been working the phones. He has been in contact with his allies, with his counterparts in the EU, the G7, Turkey, most recently Poland, and of course, Ukraine and the main message coming from the State Department that he has been saying in those conversations is, first of all, the United States does not change at all its support for Ukraine, it continues to support Ukraine. And secondarily, they will continue to coordinate with US allies and partners as this situation evolves.

So of course they are trading notes on those conversations, trying to figure out where this all goes because as Jeremy was saying, US officials really don't know right now what the endgame is here even though there has been this deal that has been brokered by the president of Belarus, Lukashenko.

[19:35:13]

We still have many questions about the terms of that deal, and I do think it's important to note that US officials have been incredibly wary to give any assessment of the ongoing, this quickly evolving situation because they do not want to be perceived as having influenced or impacted or escalated this situation, which is challenging President Putin's power.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

You know, one storyline that we can't forget about is the status of Americans imprisoned in Russia right now. You know, we've been following that for so many weeks -- Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Travis Leake -- could this impact them in any way? Does this add any urgency to get them home? I suppose it does.

ATWOOD: Yes. Well, listen, I think when you talk to US officials who are working on these situations of these Americans who are detained or wrongfully detained around the globe, whenever there is a situation that raises the instability in the country where they are detained, that is cause for alarm, because that could create even more pressure, make it even more challenging to get those Americans out, those efforts that are already underway.

Of course, we know Paul Whelan is wrongfully detained in Russia; also Evan Gershkovich, that "Wall Street Journal" reporter who was detained earlier this year, just as he was on the ground, being a journalist doing his job; and then as you mentioned, Travis Leake, another American who has been detained. US officials are still kind of looking at the circumstances surrounding his detention. He is facing drug charges.

But of course, they continue to press for the release of those Americans who are detained and we really don't know what the ripple effects of the last 24 hours will look like in terms of impacting the potential detention of these Americans who are still there -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Kylie Atwood reporting from the State Department, thank you very much.

Bringing Putin's failures to his front door even if Prigozhin didn't make it to Moscow, he brought Putin's war with Ukraine at home, but will it influence the Russian people? We will ponder some of those questions in just a few moments. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:25]

ACOSTA: Today, an apparent insurrection suddenly called off in Russia after the mercenary Wagner Group claimed to capture key military facilities in two Russian cities in advance about halfway to Moscow before turning back.

Wagner's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin says he wanted to avoid bloodshed. Russia now says Prigozhin will not be prosecuted and will be exiled to neighboring Belarus.

Prigozhin is an increasingly staunch critic of Russia's military leadership and recent infighting within the Kremlin could be to blame.

Ivan Watson joins me now.

Ivan, you know this has been brewing for some time now. We've all been aware of this. I guess, what we don't know at this point is whether or not Prigozhin overplayed his hand, whether this was some stunt that made it a lot further than even he imagined and had to take this deal to go to Belarus to save his own neck, we just don't know.

What can you tell us?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, surprisingly, we don't know what exactly was agreed upon inside the Kremlin. Well, not so surprisingly.

What is surprising is what a dramatic 24 hours this has been, I mean, 24 hours ago, you had Prigozhin and his mercenaries loading up from Ukraine, crossing the border into Russia, and seizing control of the military headquarters in the southern Russian city of Rostov.

He was essentially holding senior Russian military officials hostage and demanding that the Defense Minister and the Chief-of-General Staff, the top general in the military come and see him, individuals that he had personally accused of corruption and awful leadership on the battlefield and had repeatedly called for their execution.

And then this cannonball run of his forces that according to him, got within 200 kilometers of Moscow to the extent that you had Russian authorities trying to put up barriers on the highways, severing the highways to try to slow down these military convoys.

And then you had Vladimir Putin himself coming out and calling this an armed insurrection a stab in the back of Russia, and comparing this to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which if you use that historical analogy would make Putin Tsar Nicholas II who ended up being killed in a firing squad by Bolshevik some years later.

So just an astounding amount of rhetoric that was used, and images that Russians saw and now apparently, all finished. It is just a remarkable 24 hours that Russians have been through and that the whole world has watched.

ACOSTA: And Prigozhin was apparently ready to go to Moscow, essentially bringing -- to bring Putin's failures in Ukraine to his front door. I mean, he was out there -- I mean, he was making comments essentially questioning what Russia was doing in Ukraine and how the military was handling, conducting what was going on in Ukraine.

Do we have any sense at all as to how many Russian people are reacting to all of this? And I mean, do they agree with Prigozhin and not Putin?

WATSON: Some Russians that I talked to were saying about time, maybe that they didn't like Prigozhin himself. One former military officer I talked to in Moscow, he said, you know, Prigozhin himself is a killer, he is no hero, but it is time that somebody stood up.

You know, that's just one individual, but I think this would obviously be very bewildering for ordinary Russians, perhaps breathing a sigh of relief that the civil war that Vladimir Putin himself invoked, that threat has apparently for the time being been averted.

You're not having these mercenaries, battle-hardened with recruits who are convicted criminals going toe-to-toe with the Russian security forces, as it may have looked like a number of hours ago, but the Russian state television, which I was just watching, is still running excerpts of Vladimir Putin's addressed to the nation on Saturday, where he said that this was one of the biggest threats ever, you could imagine to Russia's future. It was posing an existential threat to the country.

There are still Russian politicians on Russian air saying that these Wagner mercenaries are traitors. They need to be dealt with, they need to be punished. This is something that Putin himself was swearing and vowing less than 24 hours ago, and now suddenly, the Kremlin has struck a deal with these traitors and is saying, hey, it's all done. No charges will be filed. Everybody gets to go back and everything is happy.

Can you imagine what an ordinary Russian, how they are supposed to process this and make sense of this? And how they're supposed to look at their president going forward from now?

It's hard, I think, for all of us to digest what Russia has just been through.

ACOSTA: Absolutely, and it sounds as though if you just look at the video that we were showing a few moments ago, of just ordinary Russians on the streets of Rostov cheering Prigozhin.

So obviously, the propaganda and replaying Putin's speeches can only go so far when you have ordinary Russians cheering on Prigozhin on the streets.

Ivan Watson, thanks very much. Really appreciate it.

What unfolded over the last 24 hours is bringing up memories of the 1991 August coup in Russia. Up next, we'll be joined by former CNN Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty -- there she is right there -- on the feelings around Moscow then versus now.

You heard Ivan Watson talking about that a few moments ago. We'll pick up that conversation with Jill in just a few moments.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:35]

ACOSTA: Lots of questions remain tonight surrounding President Putin's grasp on power in Russia. The Kremlin avoided an apparent military coup after the president of Belarus stepped in and negotiated a deal with Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, but the apparent threat of an armed rebellion, and arguably the most aggressive challenge to his authority, may have been enough to damage his image.

Joining us now is CNN contributor, Jill Dougherty, an expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Jill, always great to talk to you. What does Putin do, do you think in the next 24 or 48 to 72 hours after being embarrassed like this? I mean, I would have to think, he's going to want to go back and try to re-establish this image of being a strong man.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN RUSSIAN AFFAIRS CONTRIBUTOR: I think so. And I think he is also going to try to show that the military, the conventional military, that would be Defense Minister Shoigu are in charge in place and able to carry out the most important thing to Putin right now, other than a potential coup, is the war in Ukraine.

And so I think you're going to have a show of force, unless the Defense minister is actually in trouble, because remember, Prigozhin, his aim, ultimately, was to get rid of Shoigu, to get rid of Gerasimov, the general who is in charge of this operation. He has been very, very critical of them as mishandling the war, and even misleading Putin.

So I do think Putin has to look strong, but it's really a balancing act. The military has to look strong and then he has to figure out what happens to Prigozhin.

Prigozhin goes to Belarus, a very friendly place. Maybe he's murdered at that point, we don't know. But until he is, he is still, to my mind remains a threat to Putin on many levels military, but also that message, you know, that anti-elite message is kind of like a populist message that, you know, we, the people of Russia; I, Prigozhin am a patriot, and this could be effective. We will see. ACOSTA: Right. And I mean, what played out today is being likened to

the attempted coup, by communist hardliners in 1991. Jill, I know, you know, that situation all too well.

Do you agree with that assessment? I mean, did we see history almost repeat itself to some extent today? I mean, just an extraordinary day today, something we haven't seen during Putin's time and power, and really does harken back somewhat to what we saw in the early 90s.

DOUGHERTY: Well, it does, because, you know, it's an attempted coup. The coup in '91 was carried out by men, if you remember, one of them was so drunk, his hands were shaking when he was announcing the coup, but you're dealing with a different type of person.

You know, Prigozhin is not like a bureaucrat in the old Soviet days. Prigozhin is a loose cannon and an egomaniac and a person who has followers who are incredibly violent.

You remember, one of them actually hit another guy with a sledgehammer who tried to get out of Wagner, the mercenary group. So you're dealing with kind of an -- I would say an unpredictable force and one of the questions I think you'd want to look at it is who still supports him?

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What happens to his men? Do they actually go into the conventional military? Do they become rogue fighters? Does Prigozhin still have some support someplace? There are a lot of really very unknown issues facing Putin.

ACOSTA: Yes. And just very quickly, I'm running out of time Do you buy that all is forgiven? That Prigozhin just goes off to Belarus and all is forgiven here? I can't imagine that happening.

DOUGHERTY: Oh, no, no, no, no. I mean, maybe all is forgiven if he is paid off. Maybe there is something that they pay him off with a lot of money and he keeps his organization making money in conflict zones in the world. Who knows?

ACOSTA: Yes. Perhaps. All right, Jill, I can't think of anybody to end this hour with.

Thanks so much for your expertise and insights. Greatly appreciate it.

I'll be back at 10 PM Eastern with more CNN NEWSROOM. A special edition of "Anderson Cooper: 360" starts after a quick break.

See you soon.

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