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Uneasy Calm In Russia in Wake Of Armed Revolt; Blinken Situation In Russa Is Extraordinary; Kremlin Says Deal Reached To End Wagner Insurrection; 50-Plus Million People Under Heat Alerts; Ukraine: Two Killed, Eight Injured in Russian Attacks; Canada Launches Probe Into Titan Incident; Rebellion By Prigozhin Comes To An Abrupt End. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired June 25, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:47]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta alongside my colleague Wolf Blitzer in London.

Thank you so much for joining us for this special CNN coverage. Wolf will talk in a moment.

An uneasy calm however in Russia right now after an extraordinary 36 hours that saw an armed insurrection, led by the head of the mercenary Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. His whereabouts aren't known right now after the Kremlin said he struck a deal to stand down. The agreement allows Prigozhin to be exiled to nearby Belarus and have all criminal charges in Russia against him dropped. Prigozhin's news service tells CNN that he will answer questions when he has proper communication.

And in a dramatic announcement late yesterday, the combative head of the Wagner group said his troops would turn around after coming within just 120 miles from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, HEAD, WAGNER GROUP (through translator): Therefore, realizing all the responsibility 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)

WHITFIELD: So it was the most serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule since he came into power 23 years ago. Wagner's soldiers were cheered by supporters as they prepared to leave the Russian military city of Rostov-on-Don.

President Biden, he has not commented publicly on the situation in Russia. But U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN's "State Of The Union" earlier today that he does not think this is fully resolved. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's too soon to tell exactly where this is going to go. And I suspect that this is a moving picture and we haven't seen the last act yet.

But we can say this. First of all, what we've seen is extraordinary and I think we've seen cracks emerge that weren't there before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been seen in public since the crisis began on Friday.

So Wolf, an extraordinary sequence of events. And, of course, there is growing suspicion that there is yet more to come.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And this tumult may only be just beginning, too. We're watching all of this, Fred, very, very closely.

Let's get right to CNN's Matthew Chance. He's on the scene for us. He's live in Moscow.

Matthew, what do the streets of Russia's capital look like in the aftermath of this incredible armed rebellion? What's the mood there now?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a great sense of relief on the streets of the capital here in Moscow. But it was interesting to hear what Antony Blinken was saying there because there is on the face of it a sense that a Russian crisis has been averted. The Wagner mercenaries have been dispersed. The territory that they occupied briefly is back now fully under the control of the Kremlin.

But as well as this relief that I just mentioned, there's also an increasing amount of anxiety about what this unprecedented challenge to Vladimir Putin could unleash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: To the Kremlin, these are some of the most disturbing scenes from a weekend of shocking images. On the streets of a major Russian city, Rostov-on-Don in the south, residents cheered Wagner fighters as they withdrew.

Many Russians see them as heroes, not as the traitors the Kremlin paints them. And Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin has become a celebrity, too. Watch his supporters hail down his car just to shake hands.

The Kremlin says he's now moving to Belarus next door. But it's unclear if this is the last we'll see of him.

What is definite though is a sense of relief at least here in the Russian capital. [14:04:50]

CHANCE: It's calm now. But in the mayhem of the weekend, Moscow was on high alert. Military checkpoints on the outskirts of the city. Residents bracing for Wagner fighters to enter and for the confrontation that never came.

"It was really uneasy yesterday", says Andrei (ph). Now, it is peaceful in the streets and it's all good. Let's hope it will stay peaceful," he adds.

But even here, this sympathy for Prigozhin's unprecedented challenge, his tirades against the conduct in the war in Ukraine, appears to have struck a popular chord.

"I think it was an expressing of an opinion," says Oleg, another resident of Moscow. "An opinion of a powerful person who wants some justice and clarity."

The belief Prigozhin should be listened to is widely shared here.

But that's not what the Kremlin wants to hear. Vladimir Putin hasn't appeared in public since making his angry pledge on Saturday, filmed behind the scenes by state television, to punish those responsible for what he called an armed mutiny. The biggest challenge to his authority in 23 years of power.

But now that challenge has been made. There are growing concerns about what a defensive President Putin, stung by the events of this weekend, will do next to stay in power.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Yes, it's a pressing -- it's a pressing question.

But another question is where on earth has Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary Wagner leader, gone? We've heard that he's meant to be exiled in Belarus. But I've spoken to officials in Belarus over the course of the day and they are telling me nothing about when or if he is going to arrive and what his status is -- will be when he does.

The office of Yevgeny Prigozhin is not being any more helpful either saying that he's currently out of contact. That's what they told CNN in response to our multiple questions we've been putting to them him.

But they said that he will answer those questions in due course, Wolf.

BLITZER: We shall see when he shows up and where he shows up.

Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you very much.

We also have some breaking news on just what U.S. intelligence officials knew and what they were expecting as this historic crisis erupted.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has been reporting on this story. He's getting more information. What are you learning, Alex?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, there's so much that is extraordinary and surprising about this march on Moscow undertaken by Wagner and Prigozhin. Most of all, how it ended. How it ended quite quietly and how it ended quickly with this deal. And how it ended without violence.

I'm told that there was a U.S. assessment, that there was going to be a lot more resistance by the Russian military, by the Russian security forces, by the FSB and others, to stop Wagner's march towards the capital.

There was an expectation that there was going to be a lot more violence, a lot more fighting and a lot more bloodshed. That of course, Wolf did not happen. So it was surprising that there was not more resistance.

And this deal that was supposedly brokered by Belarus, was also a surprise for the United States and the Biden administration.

As this broke out on Friday, there was surprise across Washington -- in Congress, in the military, in the Biden administration that Prigozhin had the audacity to undertake this and to really challenge Putin's leadership and military leadership.

But I am told that U.S. Intelligence was closely tracking this. That there was a sense that Prigozhin was going to try to do something like this. Intelligence analysts had seen a buildup of Wagner men, of equipment, of weaponry to the point where they did think that this was fairly imminent. And so intelligence officials I'm told earlier in the week, middle of last week, briefed the so-called Gang of Eight. The leaders of Congress, the leaders of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

So there was an expectation that this would happen, Wolf. In the context of everything we've seen from Prigozhin over the course of the past few months in the past few months, his railing against the military leadership, of course, you could expect that something like this might have been tried.

But of course, that makes it no less stunning that he actually went through with it, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly was stunning, indeed. All right. Alex, thank you very much. Alex Marquardt reporting.

I want to bring in our White House correspondent Arlette Saenz right now. Arlette, what are we hearing from the White House today? What specifically are they saying?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, the White House has been quite measured and careful in its response. But officials say they continue to assess the impact of Prigozhin's seemingly short-lived rebellion in Russia.

But the administration's first on-camera official reaction came this morning from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He spoke with our colleague Dana Bash and described the situation as a moving picture that is extraordinary but potentially not yet resolved.

[14:09:46]

SAENZ: Now Blinken would not say whether they believe Putin's time in power could be coming to an end amid this rebellion. But he did say that it showed that cracks exist in Putin's hold on power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is just an added chapter to a very, very bad book that Putin has written for Russia. But what's so striking about it is it's internal.

The fact that you have from within, someone directly questioning Putin's authority, directly questioning the premises upon which he launched this aggression against Ukraine. That in and of itself is something very powerful. It adds cracks. Where those go when they get there, too soon to say. But it clearly raises new questions that Putin has to deal with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now so far, we have yet to hear from President Biden. He remains at Camp David, is expected to return here to the White House later this evening.

But he has spent the weekend huddled with his top national security officials. National security adviser Jake Sullivan has continuously been briefing President Biden on this situation.

The president has also been working the phones with allies, including a critical call with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The White House said that they discussed the situation in Russia but also talked about their long-standing support for Ukraine. One of the reasons that the White House has been careful not to weigh in, really in depth relating to this insurrection in Russia, is because they don't want to give any credence or any suggestion that they are trying to interfere in the matter.

But one thing that officials will be trying to assess in the coming days is the broader impact this will have on the war in Ukraine but also Putin's hold on power in Russia.

BLITZER: Arlette Saenz at the White House, thank you. We will of course, stay in very close touch with you.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has been following all these developments very, very closely.

Nic, as you know, Putin hasn't been seen publicly since his fiery speech Saturday morning condemning this mutiny. Does the Russian president face a new reality today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He does. But he gets to make the reality for Russian people to a degree because he controls what's on TV, what they read in the newspapers, everything they know about what's going on. That is pretty much filtered through his control mechanisms.

He is likely to want to put this in the rear-view mirror quickly. Try and paint it over as something that has happened. Nothing to see here. Moving on.

Let's focus on the war in Ukraine. There's an important job to be there. Our enemies are actually in the West. They're the ones that are trying to divide us.

So I think that will likely be his -- continue to be his narrative. The caveat to that, of course, is we don't know the contours of the deal that Prigozhin negotiated. And he likely had some leverage. How else was he able to walk away?

And that leaves the question about the structure of the defense ministry because that's what Prigozhin was criticizing Putin about, criticizing the military about for prosecution of the war.

Will there be changes there? If there are, then that makes it much harder for Putin to keep walking forward, speak about the West, and deny there are issues at home. And so that bit of it is yet to play out. Maybe that's why we haven't seen him just yet.

BLITZER: Prigozhin made a truly stunning about face with his forces just what, about 120 miles or so from outside Moscow. What we know about this supposed deal comes basically from the Kremlin and from neighboring Belarus. What questions does that raise in your mind?

ROBERTSON: So what happens to his forces when they get back to their bases? There seems to be some imprecise nature if you will in the language that the Kremlin is using to describe this.

Those Prigozhin-Wagner fighters who want to sign up for the military are able to do that, they're able to sign contracts if they want to withhold. But not those who were involved in this march to Moscow.

But apparently before that, the deal was that they had immunity. And they are able to drive away -- they are driving away from Moscow now back to their bases.

That's not clear. I'm not -- it's not clear what happens to those troops when they get back to the bases. Will they be arrested? Will they be questioned? Or will they try to even follow Prigozhin to Belarus? And will that be possible?

And I think for the leadership, for those on the base in Rostov-on- Don, for the military officials there who essentially allowed Prigozhin to walk in, what are the repercussions for them?

We don't know about that. And again this comes back to that core issue of what is happening in the defense ministry? Is that going to be restructured? Does it change?

And those who came out and supported Putin, fine. But those who let Prigozhin onto the bases, what happens to them?

BLITZER: You know, we're not told that the Russian parliament is working on a new law to regulate the Wagner group. Does that provide any clues in your mind as to the future of Prigozhin and his fighters?

[14:14:54]

ROBERTSON: So part of this thrust -- this incident yesterday, has grown out of the past months, where Prigozhin has criticized the defense ministry. And the defense -- and in particular, the defense minister Sergei Shoigu and his deputy Valery Gerasimov.

And what seems to have happened is in this power struggle that Putin has finally had to weigh in on is that the defense minister said no Wagner fighters are going to have to sign up to us. Prigozhin had said no. But it looks like that's the way that the deal shakes out here.

And it looks like this legislation that's going through the Duma will rubber stamp that. And let's be clear here. When there's legislation going through the Duma, that's because that's what Putin wants.

So it looks like Prigozhin's military fighters are going to have to sign up to Russia's military. So it looks like the defense ministry came out on top.

But again that caveat, we don't know what else is involved in the deal or even if that was part of the deal. But I think that's where it's going. It tries to join up and unify and perhaps throttle back the growth of private military contractors within Russia who of course, have become a major and powerful and rich -- if you have an oligarch leader of them -- rich elements of fighting the war in Ukraine.

BLITZER: Yes, it's an important point, as well. I know that U.S. officials were surprised Russia's military didn't do a better job confronting the Wagner forces who were on the march towards Moscow, the capital. Where are the defense ministry and defense minister Shoigu in all of this? That is really a significant issue.

ROBERTSON: It is. You know, the defense ministry in Moscow, sitting on the river there not far from the Kremlin, about a mile away -- it's a massive building. They can rattle in around inside there and no one would know.

Supposedly, according to Kremlin officials Putin was working away in the Kremlin late yesterday. You know, it's very hard to take anything Russian officials say at face value.

But we don't know where Sergei Shoigu is. He was last seen a couple of days before the coup. That Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner boss said on the night before the coup he met with Sergei Shoigu and about 9:00 Shoigu disappeared from Rostov-on-Don. And that's the last sort of known accounting of his whereabouts.

And the two of them, ostensibly hammering out this power play between them over who is going to control Wagner fighters.

Again, on the surface, it looks like the government has won. But it's not clear. Is Shoigu gone as part of that deal? We don't know.

BLITZER: So much is still unclear. Nic Robertson, thank you very much for that excellent analysis.

There's certainly a lot of uncertainty as we all know surrounding the future of the Wagner group. Prigozhin hasn't confirmed he has accepted the deal from the Kremlin. And his whereabouts, as we've been reporting, are still unclear.

What it all means for the future of the private military group, that's coming up.

Plus, back in the United States, we're tracking potentially life- threatening heat making its way across the country. We're going to bring you the latest forecast.

Also right now, the Titan recovery mission is continuing at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. We'll have the latest on the investigation. That's coming up, as well.

[14:18:09]

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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

The U.S. National Parks Service says a Texas man and his 14-year-old stepson have died after hiking in extreme heat at Big Ben National Park in southwest Texas. That area has been experiencing extreme temperatures with daily highs reaching 110 to 119 degrees.

And this comes as more than 50 million people are under threat of extreme heat in areas stretching from Arizona to Mississippi. In parts of Texas, it will feel as hot as 120 degrees. And the state's power authority says a grid weather watch will start today and run through Friday.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar joining me now from the CNN Weather Center. I mean this is very, very serious and life-threatening.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. And I think that's kind of the point, Fred. Look, we know it's summer. It's supposed to be hot.

But not necessarily this extreme level. We're talking record temperatures. And in some of these cases, these records are going to last three to five days in a row.

It's also the beginning of summer, the official start of summer just happened on Wednesday. So it's a little bit of acclimation, too. People aren't yet used to all of this extreme heat quite yet so far.

Right now, we have roughly a dozen states that are under either some type of heat advisory or excessive heat warning and many of those will last for several days. When you take a look at Houston, the forecast Monday is a high of 101 getting up to 102 by the middle of the week. Dallas, looking at a high of 103 on Monday, jumping all the way to a high of 108 on Wednesday.

So for many of these areas, those temperatures are only going to go up from here and they're going to stay that way.

Take Austin for example. The normal high this time of year 94 degrees. We're going to spend every single one of the next seven days in triple digits.

Several of those days, likely breaking record temperatures. And they're just one of over 35 cities that have the potential to break records. Some of those cities could break them two or even three- consecutive days in a row.

It's also not just the temperatures. You have to factor in the humidity. That combination is what we refer to as the "feels-like" temperature for your body.

Dallas, on Tuesday that feels-like temperature getting up to 114. Shreveport, not much better, up around 112 on Tuesday. Really the only areas that aren't going to see much in the way of that extreme heat or maybe just slightly cooler, is because it's going to rain.

You've got this area here across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. They're dealing with strong to severe thunderstorms. But that's really the only thing that's going to cool a lot of these areas off.

And then once we head into Monday, more of those showers and thunderstorms, Fred, begin to shift off to the east, but a lot of the south still remains dealing with all of those extremely hot temperatures.

[14:24:56]

WHITFIELD: All right. Everyone proceed with caution, lots of severe weather. Thanks so much, Allison Chinchar.

All right. Still ahead, as Russia's infighting ensued, their attacks on Ukraine still went on. We're live on the ground for the latest next.

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BLITZER: The historic and very dramatic developments in Russia this weekend gripped so many millions of people around the world, perhaps nowhere more so than in Ukraine.

One Kyiv resident told CNN, I'm quoting now, "We had just prepared popcorn but the movie didn't even happen," end quote.

BLITZER: Despite Putin's internal power struggle, Russian troops launched attacks along Ukraine's eastern and southern fronts.

[14:30:02] Ukrainian officials say those attacks killed two people and injured eight. The mayor of Kyiv, the capital, said five people were also killed in a Russian missile strike on the capital early Saturday.

CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is joining us live from Zaporizhzhia right now. That's right near the eastern front in Ukraine.

Ben, yesterday, officials there, where you are, seemed to watch the developments in Russia with what they described as quiet anticipation. What is the mood there now after Prigozhin's about-face?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I hate to say there, Wolf, but it's sort of a disappointment. People feel let down. There was for all of yesterday, until Prigozhin's about-face, a feeling that chaos was breaking out in Russia. Perhaps there would be civil war and this could lend -- lead to an early end to the war here.

But reality quickly came back, as you mentioned. Five people killed overnight in Kyiv. Here in Zaporizhzhia, in the early morning hours, we heard several large explosions, and the fighting continuing uninterrupted despite all the drama in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia. We've learned from Ukrainian officials that -- near the town of Bakhmut, in the eastern part of the country, that Ukrainian forces were able to seize a kilometer of Russian trenches there. They said, they were able to kill, capture or wound an entire Russian battalion. We don't know how many troops that involves. They haven't given any details.

And, of course, there's still much anticipation that the counteroffensive will really hit its stride. Until now, what we're seeing are these limited tactical successes to the south of here in the Bakhmut area. But really, the main counteroffensive doesn't seem to have actually begun -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Ben Wedeman in Zaporizhzhia for us -- Ben, we'll stay in very close touch with you.

We're going to have much more coming up just ahead on the developing situation. Very dramatic situation in Russia, as well as Ukraine.

Plus, the mission to recover the titan sub debris is under way on the sea floor right now. We're going to have the latest on the investigation into what caused the fatal implosion. That's coming up next.

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[14:36:34]

WHITFIELD: All right. First on CNN, recovery missions are continuing on the sea floor, as the search for answers in the deadly sub disaster continues. The company behind the remote device investigation says it has identified objects of interest.

It comes as the international investigation is expanding. Canadian investors have boarded the Polar Prince. That was the mother ship of the voyage and was last in contact with the OceanGate Titan submersible.

That sub Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion as it descended miles below the ocean surface in hopes of seeing the Titanic wreckage. It was one week ago today, that contact with the Titan and five people onboard was lost forever.

The U.S. Coast Guard says it will hold a press conference at 4:00 this afternoon.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in St. John's, Newfoundland, with more on all of this.

Gloria, what are investigators doing?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Fred. Now, the process of trying to understand what happened here is under way. In fact, the mission to find more pieces of the Titan is continuing. There's a remote operating vehicle that is out at sea, 400 miles from here.

This is the Odysseus 6000. In fact, this remote operating vehicle is the same one that found the original pieces of the Titan.

And here's what they have been able to recover so far. They have the nose cone of the vessel, the front and the back of the pressure hull. And they've also located two other debris fields.

This is what the area looks like. This is where Odysseus 6000 has been diving. We've learned that the remote operating vehicle has gone at total of four times so far. Another interesting thing we have learned, Fred, is the company that's operating Odysseus 6000 tells us they have used the heavy lifting capabilities in recent days.

So, we have reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard to see if more debris has been found. We're expecting an update later this afternoon. But in fact, more pieces have been recovered. That's going to be critical for this investigation in addition to the voice recorder which was located inside the Polar Prince. As you said, that was the Titan's mothership. We know the Canadian transportation board is looking at it as part of the investigation.

And all of this is to try and understand how this happened, what happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, we look forward to that press conference and any new information that may come from it at 4:00 today.

Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much.

All right. For more, I want to bring Stephen McGinty. He's the journalist and author of the book, "The Dive: The Untold Story of the World's Deepest Submarine Rescue", which was about the submarine Pisces 3 in 1973. So, good to see you, Stephen.

So, you know, as you were studying this disaster, what questions do you still have about what may have happened?

STEPHEN MCGINTY, AUTHOR, "THE DIVE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE WORLD'S DEEPEST SUBMARINE RESCUE": I think what we're all waiting to find out is how much of the submarine can be retrieved from the ocean floor? And once they've got the pieces, they'll be able to do an analysis of the fabric of the submarine because the fact remains is that, obviously, there was a catastrophic implosion.

[14:40:11]

And all that would have required for that to happen would have been a tiny, tiny crack, you know, the width of a hair, that would have resulted in a split-second decompression and subsequent implosion.

So, the chances are that the five victims of this terrible disaster would have known nothing about what happened. It would have effectively ended. What there's an opportunity to find out is -- we knew it was a unique fabric that was the basis for this. And they will be wanting to do a stress analysis on this, to give insight. They knew effectively there had been a failure of it. It's trying to work out where it happened.

WHITFIELD: And if it were a crack, as you mentioned, something you're looking for could be in the hull or perhaps even the epoxy, anywhere on it. And it could have resulted in the same consequence, this kind of implosion?

MCGINTY: Absolutely, absolutely.

I mean, the difficulty will be that an explosion -- so an implosion at that depth, the pieces of material will be spread so far. It will be interesting to see what size they have. And the idea of when -- we know from plane disasters, with the disaster for example, they were able to find all in so many of the pieces that they could piece it together and see where the initial explosion took place. That will not be possible in this case.

So, they will be working with a lot less material, just trying to figure out what went wrong. As you say, we'll not know this for a few days yet or weeks.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. So, the company that's aiding in this recovery mission says that it has identified objects of interest, you know, from the sea floor, depending on what they recover. Is it your view, even if there's smaller pieces they'll never be able to recover because of the vastness and you described implosion means with such great force things were scattered.

Do you believe even if there are significant gaps, what they can piece together, will at least perhaps give them some clues about the origins of that implosion or the most vulnerable spots that could have been on that submersible?

MCGINTY: You would hope so. They will be able to look at the material and see what were the stress fractures on it? What elements had taken place? So, they should be able to figure out exactly. But it will take time.

BLITZER: So, another part of this information is, you know, this voyage data recorder, which stored audio from the mother ship's bridge. What sort of information will you be looking to hear about?

MCGINTY: But, you know, one to find whether -- the key thing will be is were they aware of an issue? If they're communicating with the mothership on the top, if they talk about hearing creeks. We know that back in 2019, one of the previous people to travel in the sub, or a version of the sub, had heard creaking at certain depths and was concerned about that. And at the time, the management, you know, restructured the submarine and took these things into account.

You know, what would be interesting to find out is whether there was communication from the submarine to the ship. And talking about concerns or the fact they were moving up, if that had taken place, that would have (INAUDIBLE) leaked out by now.

BLITZER: The transportation safety board of Canada says this investigation -- really the objective is not to assign blame, but rather to find out exactly what happened, to try to reduce the risks in the future of any other kind of, you know, exploration projects like this one.

Do you think that this will lead ultimately to new regulations, particularly as it pertains to experimental submersibles?

MCGINTY: Yeah. It's interesting. I mean, having written the book about Pisces XII, you know, that was made by -- built and designed by Al Trace (ph), a Canadian who was a deep sea diver at the time in the late '60s. And that was the pioneering days of smaller submersibles.

Even then, I spoke to -- two days ago, I spoke to Doug Huntington. Doug was the man who devised the toggle, the rescue toggle that's effectively used to rescue the ship of Pisces XII.

[14:45:01]

The point he made was that even in the '60s and '70s, when Pisces XII was developed, it still worked with the way the community, it was ensured by Lloyds of London.

It wasn't a case that they only ever worked on the submarine and then, they operated it. There was outside forces or outside authorities that came in and examined the time. Whereas what we know from this one, this was the only submarine diving to that depth, that wasn't certified and hasn't been view -- I mean, effectively, the phrase is, they marked their own homework.

That's never a good idea, spectacular particularly in a system like this. And it will be interesting to see whether there's legislation that will come in to prevent that. But I think that disaster would act as a warning. I don't think any other company would be so bold as to use a new material for a submarine dive into that depth. More crucially, then not effectively bringing an outside body to look at it and to stress test it. WHITFIELD: All right. Stephen McGinty, great talking to you. Thank you

so much.

MCGINTY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, the uprising in Russia ended almost as quickly as it began after the Kremlin said it reached the deal with the Wagner chief. But Yevgeny Prigozhin has not confirmed the deal himself and hasn't been seen since late last night. What does it all mean for the future of the mercenary group? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:54]

BLITZER: The motives and endgame for Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's short lived Russian rebellion remained muddled, very much muddled today. The future of his private army, which has been on the front lines of Putin's war on Ukraine, is also pretty much uncertain right now.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, there's still a lot that's unclear about what's going to be in a store in the future for the Wagner private military company. One of the things, of course, that we've heard from the Kremlin, is that they say the fighters for Wagner, because of their military achievements on the battlefield, will be able to apply to join the Russian military.

That's something that's been in the cards for a while. There was a decrease by the Russian defense minister a couple of weeks ago where he said that all of the private military companies needed to have contracts with the Russian army if they wanted to operate in the future. Now, Yevgeny Prigozhin or the Wagner private military company had always said that they weren't going to do that, and that was, of course, also one of the things that escalated the feud between Prigozhin and the Russian military leadership.

But all of this is about a lot more than that. The private military company Wagner is one thing, but Yevgeny Prigozhin owns a lot more than that. He has media holdings like, for instance, the media holdings like for instance, the Internet Research Agency, which the U.S. says meddled heavily in the 2016 presidential election. Prigozhin was indicted for that, what happens to his media empire? Then, of course, there's all his dealings in the Middle East. Oil fields in Syria, in Africa, exploiting things like gold and diamonds, also training local forces there.

So, there are definitely still a lot of questions about whether or not, Yevgeny Prigozhin, when he goes to exile, in Belarus, will retain any sort of control over that, or if other solutions will be found by the Russian leadership. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

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BLITZER: Fred, thank you very much.

The controversial Belarusian president reportedly played a key role in ending the uprising in Russia. Alexander Lukashenko dubbed Europe's last dictator is a close ally of President Putin's, but how did he become such a pivotal player in this specific situation? We'll have more on that, including new information, when we come back.

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WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. The exact whereabouts of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin are unknown at this hour. His press service tells CNN he'll respond when he can, and when he reveals himself, it maybe in Belarus.

The Belarus leader has been a long time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This weekend, Alexander Lukashenko played a critical role in ending an armed insurrection.

Our Salma Abdelaziz has more on the Belarusian president.

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ANNOUNCER: Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko!

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He has ruled Belarus like a personal fiefdom, tolerating literal opposition and occupying the post of president from its creation in 1994. But Alexander Lukashenko, dubbed Europe's last dictator, has come to be defined by his fealty to Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, transforming Belarus into a near vassal state.

President Putin used Belarus to help launch his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, driving Russian tanks over the Belarus border toward Kyiv, and using Belarusian skies to bomb their neighbors.

ALEXANDER LUKASENKO, BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We will never be enemies of Russia, and we will never looked disapprovingly of Russia. This is the country closest to us, the people closest to us. I think that we are in power, and we will stick to this tendency. If it were otherwise, it would be like in Ukraine.

ABDELAZIZ: The war drove Lukashenko into Putin's embrace. And Putin tightened his hold, pledging to station nuclear weapons in Belarus.

It hasn't always been the post-Soviet paradise Lukashenko bragged about. After claiming more than 80 percent of the vote in 2020's election, described by Western governments as fraudulent, Lukashenko faced nationwide protests. "Get out", they shouted.

He responded with force. The woman who ran against him, whose husband Lukashenko had already jailed, was forced to flee. SVIATLANA TSIKHANOUSKAYA, BELARUSIAN POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Thousands of

people are in prison for politically motivated cases. Hundreds of thousands had to flee Belarus because of repression. And one day, we can wake up and see that Belarus has left as a consolation prize for Putin.

ABDELAZIZ: He is a product of his Soviet past. Lukashenko's Belarus can sometimes seem like a time capsule, replete with Soviet symbolism. Unlike in Russia, the KGB was never disbanded, or even renamed.

And he has often resorted to strong-arm tactics, when a Belarusian dissidents was a passenger on a plane flying over the country in 2021, Belarus air traffic control called in a bomb threat, and the man was arrested.