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CNN International: Russian President Putin Addresses Security Forces; Sources: U.S. Had Intel On Wagner Rebellion, Kept It Secret; U.S. Made Clear It Was Not Involved In Rebellion; CNN Obtains Audio Of Donald Trump's 2021 Conversation About Classified Documents; President Putin Addresses Mutiny Over Weekend. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 27, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[07:59:49]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London.

Just ahead, Vladimir Putin thanks his troops for stopping a civil war, as he tries to paint a picture of unity after the Wagner mutiny. We've also heard from his counterpart in Belarus, who helped thwart that armed march on Moscow. Alexander Lukashenko said it was painful to watch the events that took place this weekend.

[08:00:11]

And CNN obtains tapes from former President Donald Trump discussing highly confidential papers. Key details from that just ahead.

"You actually stopped a civil war", those are the words from the Russian President Vladimir Putin, addressing his security forces just days after a short-lived revolt led by the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

State media reports Russia is dropping any charges against Wagner forces and Prigozhin. The whereabouts of the Wagner boss remains unclear. Yesterday, he released an audio tape saying the armed march to Moscow was a protest and not a move to oust Mr. Putin.

Meanwhile, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko talked about his role in bringing the uprising to an end, saying the event was painful to watch, as I was saying.

Fred Pleitgen joins us from Berlin with all the latest developments on this fast-moving story. It was fascinating to watch Putin today, wasn't it, all the theater around it. And the fact that he called it a war when, you know, a lot of people wouldn't have described it that way, least of all Prigozhin.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL: Yes, a potential civil war. I think you're absolutely right, it certainly is fascinating. I think you were also right to say that the messaging right now is very important for Vladimir Putin. Obviously, trying to show that he's in charge, that there is unity, but also trying to show, Max, that he believes in the Russian security services.

And, you know, certainly the main thing that we picked upon in that speech is what you've been pointing out, that Vladimir Putin praised the security forces, but at the same time also said that they prevented, as he put it, de facto, a civil war. Let's listen into what Vladimir Putin had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): You defended the Constitution, the lives, the security, and the freedom of our citizens. You saved our homeland from being shaken up. In actual fact, you stopped a civil war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: "You stopped a civil war", as he put it there. And I think if you put that in context, it becomes even more important, the words of Vladimir Putin, because one of the things that we have seen since Yevgeny Prigozhin turned back that convoy and since it was clear that he was going to go into an exile de facto in Belarus, is that Yevgeny Prigozhin is not quiet.

He came out with an audio message, very long one yesterday, saying that if he had wanted to, he could have gone to Moscow. He said they were blocking air bases, that they were blocking military bases, and that he felt that he had the population behind him. So this is clearly some counter messaging coming from Vladimir Putin.

And, of course, we saw that last night, Max, when Vladimir Putin, you know, gave a five-minute address to the Russian nation saying they could have put down any sort of uprising anyway, and that it was important for them to not spill blood of Russians -- on Russians.

But then also afterwards, we saw Vladimir Putin with his larger security Cabinet. The heads of the security forces right now, obviously, trying to portray that picture of someone who clearly has the reins and who clearly is in charge.

And, you know, you mentioned Alexander Lukashenko as well. He's probably the biggest winner in all of this, receiving praise from Vladimir Putin, receiving praise from the Kremlin for essentially brokering that agreement, which led to Yevgeny Prigozhin calling back his forces.

And you're absolutely right, he came out earlier today. He says he doesn't want to be called a hero, as he put it. He said it was painful to watch. But, you know, one of the things that we picked up on there as well, which I think goes to show just how concerned Lukashenko and probably Putin was as well with all the things that were unfolding, is that Lukashenko, quite frankly, said that he put his security forces, the military and police on combat alert that day.

And so that certainly goes to show that this was a serious situation. And, of course, that also reflected in the fact that Vladimir Putin said that the security forces, as he put it, prevented potentially a civil war. Max?

FOSTER: Fred in Berlin, thank you.

On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden huddled with top national security aides to discuss the current instability in Russia. According to several sources, U.S. intelligence officials had gathered a detailed picture of Prigozhin's plans leading up to his revolt.

The sources tell CNN the U.S. knew how and where bargainer troops were planning to advance, but not when. This Intel was so important. The sources say that it was shared with only the closest of allies, like the U.K., for example.

Let's get the very latest from Arlette Saenz in Washington. Very sensitive this, isn't it, because the Americans don't want to be seen to be getting involved in this, but they clearly knew what was happening.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And this information that the U.S. intelligence services gathered was very, very tightly held, as it was really only the senior most administration officials who were briefed on the matter as U.S. intelligence was able to assess and gain this detailed picture of exactly what Prigozhin had been planning with this rebellion in Russia.

[08:05:14]

You know, one of the outstanding questions that they had about was when exactly he might be waging such a campaign, but ultimately, they saw that playing out on Friday night. Now, the U.S. only shared this with senior -- most senior administration officials, the Gang of Eight members up on Capitol Hill who has access to some of the most -- country's most sensitive information, as well as some top officials in the United Kingdom.

There was some frustration from European allies, including NATO officials, about the fact that this information was not shared with them in advance, but it speaks to the highly sensitive nature of it all. They also didn't share this with the Ukrainians, in part, sources said, because they were concerned that any discussions between the U.S. and Ukrainian officials could be intercepted by adversaries.

But it really speaks to the intelligence community and how they've been monitoring the actions of Prigozhin and the Wagner group over the course of the war in Ukraine. They had seen, earlier in this year, they had seen and been monitoring this brewing feud between the Wagner group and Russia's military forces as well.

But for the time being, the President here at the White House has also been trying to stress that the U.S. has not been involved in this rebellion in Russia in any way. They have been cognizant of the fact that Vladimir Putin could, at some point, suggest that there had been Western involvement.

And that is why the President had wanted to get on the phone with his allied counterparts over the course of the weekend, but to try to ensure that they were all on the same page, to provide a united front and not offer Putin any fodder to try to make those claims.

Now, the President also said that it's too early to assess what the long term ramifications of this rebellion will have, not just in Ukraine, but when it comes to Putin's power in Russia. So these are all things that the administration continues to analyze.

FOSTER: Joining us from the White House -- hope your voice gets better.

You're about to hear what could be a crucial piece of evidence in the classified documents case against Donald Trump. It's an audio recording first obtained by CNN in which Trump appears to show a secret Pentagon document to several people who do not have security clearance.

Trump also acknowledges that he no longer has the power to declassify the documents. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are bad sick people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was your coup, you know, against you. That --

TRUMP: Well, it started right at the --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like when Milley is talking about, "oh, you were going to try to do a coup". No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to overthrow your election.

TRUMP: Well, with Milley, let me see that. I'll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn't it amazing? I have a big pile of papers. This thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this. This is off the record, but they presented me this.

This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

TRUMP: We looked at some. This was him. This wasn't done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff, pages long, look. Wait a minute, let's see here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: I just found, isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like highly controversial --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: -- secret. This is secret information. But look at this. You attack, and --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary would print that out all the time.

TRUMP: She'd send it -- no she'd send it to Anthony Weiner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: The pervert.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please print.

TRUMP: By the way, isn't that incredible?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And, you know, he said, "he wanted to attack Iran, and what?" So these are the papers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you did.

TRUMP: This was done by the military and given to me. I think we can probably, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know, we'll have to see. Yes, we'll have to try to --

TRUMP: Declassify it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- figure out -- yes.

TRUMP: See as president I could have declassified it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Now we have a problem.

TRUMP: Isn't that interesting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TRUMP: It's so cool. I mean, it's so -- and look, her and I have been -- and you probably almost didn't believe me, but now you believe me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I believed you.

TRUMP: It's incredible, right? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they never met a war they they didn't want.

TRUMP: Hey, bring some Cokes in, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Let's bring CNN Political Correspondent Sara Murray for some analysis here. The prosecution must feel pretty confident with that piece of audio.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, as we had been reporting this out, we talked to sources who said, you know, you you are going to understand how damning this is when you finally hear the tape. And I think that that comes across in this clip. What a good piece of evidence this is for prosecutors.

I mean, you have Donald Trump in there acknowledging that this is not a declassified document, saying that he no longer has the authority to declassify it because he's not present.

[08:10:07]

And, you know, we don't know exactly, of course, what papers he's rustling there. But he does say, you know, I'll show you an example, these are the papers. That's what he is saying in this clip. So, obviously, that's potent evidence for prosecutors.

We also know that prosecutors subpoenaed the Trump team to try to get this document. The Trump team was not able to produce it. So we don't know exactly what the status is of this document. That was about a potential attack on Iran, where it is, if prosecutors were able to get it in the search of Mar-a-Lago or able to get it in another set of documents Trump returned.

But we know that they took pains to try to corroborate this information. You know, they went and they interviewed Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs. They interviewed at least one other person in that meeting. I'm sure they probably interviewed more to try to talk to them about what documents was Donald Trump actually holding here. So it'll be interesting to see what other evidence comes out as this case moves forward.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Sara, thank you for bringing us that.

Now Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls Monday a happy day. In his nightly address, he said his troops were advancing in all directions along the frontlines in the east and the south. His comments followed his visit to the Donetsk region in Zaporizhzhia, where he met with generals and awarded some of his fighters.

Now all eyes are on Mr. Zelenskyy to see if and how he capitalizes on this weekend's internal strife in Russia.

Nick Paton Walsh analyzing all of that from Kyiv. What sort of progress? Obviously, it's quite widespread progress, looking at the map that we just showed, but is it deep? NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In lots of areas, but incremental, I think it's fair to say, at this stage. Now, obviously, there's not always transparency about Ukrainian military advances. They keep a lot of that quiet, and often what you do hear about is on a significant time delay.

But at the moment, yes, it's true to say that in the west of the front lines of the Antonovsky Bridge, there's Ukrainian claims backed up by some video advances over a bridge there, which potentially gives them a new front heading in from the west towards the territory north of Crimea.

In the Far East, progress around Bakhmut, and then suggestions too, of weaknesses owing to the withdrawal of Chechen troops further to the south of that, and then claims that Rivnopil has, in fact, been taken down in the south and the Zaporizhzhia area. All of this incremental at this stage.

But Volodymyr Zelenskyy talking about how there was progress in all directions. And we simply don't know whether this is part of the continued incremental pressure which we've been seeing from Ukraine over the past weeks, or whether the traumatic and chaotic events for Moscow's top brass over the weekend has led to disarray in their command and a lack of morale on the front lines.

It's important to point out, Max, that a lot of soldiers in the Russian trenches don't have smartphones deliberately prevented from contact, often from the outside world, partly because their phone signals give away their position sometimes. And so they may not know precisely what's been happening back in --

FOSTER: OK.

WALSH: -- Russia and --

FOSTER: Nick, I'm just going to interrupt briefly, apologies, but we just want to bring this sound that we've just had in. This is the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, speaking to his -- well, he's just speaking there on camera, as you can see.

PUTIN (through translator): You had to work in very difficult conditions in order to keep the peace for the peaceful population. And even more unfortunate is the fact that we have losses, military losses. Our comrades have fallen defending the homeland.

I'm speaking this without any exaggerations. And once again, I want to emphasize the chaos of the country would have been inevitable, and opponents would have used this. They are trying to do this in any case, but they do not succeed. And I hope they will not succeed. I'm convinced of that. I'm confident.

But you just -- we do not know what would have happened to the country. But all these achievements that have been made in this time of military activities, actions, many of them would have been lost. And you did not allow this without any doubt. And the minister has already said, everything will be done to support the families of our comrades.

As regards, the Wagner group, you've already seen them as fighters and commanders with respect, because they showed courage, heroism.

[08:15:05]

Our soldiers and officers, volunteers of the Russian army worked in military conditions. They have also shown their heroism and they've -- that those have fallen. Those who've served in the Wagner company use -- had the respect for the country.

In addition, I want to point out what everybody knows, that the contents of that group was supported by the Ministry of Defense. The state budget, we fully financed it, that group, only from May 2022, I think the 23rd, with stimulating payment, 86 billion, 262 million rubles. Of those 70 billion, 384 and over 15 billion in insurance.

Yet, the owner of the Concord Company through (INAUDIBLE) military trade, but everything that was on the shoulders of the state, the Concord Company through (INAUDIBLE) received, earned from the state without providing -- including food stuffs for the army, many billions.

This is the state and through the Concord group earned 80 billion rubles. But I hope that through its work, nobody has taken anything, or if we can say no one -- clearly, that is what we will have to -- we will deal with that.

When I was speaking about the military work, pilots who have done a lot for this military work. And now giving some information from the fourth to the sixth, when the counter operation started, opponents spent 259 tanks and only if you look at the main area of strikes (INAUDIBLE).

They lost 280 units, 41 tanks, and another 102. This is the great extent of your work, the work of your comrades. And I'd like to say additional words of thanks for this. Clearly, clearly, the Ministry of Defense empowered this, authorized this, the services of all for those who've taken part in that work.

I mean, state but I've already said, and I want to repeat of those who are dutifully involved in their work, have prospects for the future. They are the backbone of the Armed Forces, including in its aviation force. I would like to finish with that.

And once again, I want to thank you for what you have done for Russia, for the country. Thank you.

FOSTER: Second opportunity there for President Putin to address members of the security and law enforcement services there after the mutiny, also in the wider war with Ukraine, although you wouldn't call it that.

Nick Paton Walsh was listening to that from Kyiv. What did you pick up from that, Nick?

[08:20:07]

WALSH: I think that's probably one of the first times that President Vladimir Putin has referred to the Concord mercenary group run by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin didn't get a name check during that, but very clearly, the target of Vladimir Putin's comments about how many north of $80 billion, given -- sorry, 80 billion rubles given to that particular group.

It pains to point out how all their financing had originally come from the state. And I think that is a bid in front of those soldiers there to talk about Yevgeny Prigozhin without mentioning his name, as somebody who took a lot of money from the state and potentially benefited from those contracts.

So details there from the Kremlin head trying to build a case, possibly without mentioning Yevgeny Prigozhin byname again, but mentioning his company, Concord. And it's interesting there to see the former sponsor, the paymaster of Prigozhin laying out a case of how that money essentially would have at some point allowed Prigozhin to aggrandize himself to the point where he chose to march on Moscow.

All that Putin would sort of point to the long history that Prigozhin has of being financed by the state as perhaps a way of trying to undermine essentially what he did in the latter stages of their amicable relationship.

Part of a series of appearances that we're seeing today from Vladimir Putin, where after two and a half days of, frankly, going MIA while this coup played out and a deal emerged on late Saturday to this attempted coup, I should say, this deal on late Saturday emerged to finally reestablish a narrative and provide Kremlin's context for what happened.

But a lot of this seems to sort of gaslight the events of the weekend and try and suggest that soldiers who really did not appear on the ground to offer much opposition were somehow all working together to maintain the Kremlin head's position. Max?

FOSTER: OK, Nick, thank you so much for that. We're going to be speaking to Kim Dozier after the break as well to get her take. We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: We've seen and heard from President Vladimir Putin today off the back of that temporary insurgency over the weekend in Russia. Also with some developments in relation to the war in Ukraine. Progress being made by Ukraine, according to President Zelenskyy.

Let's bring in CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier, who's in New York for us. Kim, you were watching the speech that President Putin was just making. It was interesting, wasn't it, as Nick was pointing out, that he was talking about the financing that Prigozhin used for his wider project, suggesting it came from the Russian state, which obviously means it's closed off now and it's all over for Prigozhin? KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes. Well, I think what we're seeing is a coordinated strategic messaging campaign after a couple of days of shocked silence, essentially from the Kremlin, where from Putin, he is making the case this organization was a creature of the Russian state, funded by the Russian state that's over now.

Doesn't mention Prigozhin by name, but other mouthpieces, messengers of the government have fanned out on talk shows, television broadcasts, starting to tear Prigozhin down, making the case that this man was a criminal. One of these messengers talked about why Prigozhin originally spent 13 years in jail before being picked up as Putin's chef, that he had been arrested for strangling a woman. And the person said, you know, that's all you need to know about Prigozhin.

So I think what they're doing is Putin saw how potentially popular Prigozhin is, is worried that the lack of fight back against his initial assault and taking of Rostav-on-Don stems from the popularity he built up on the battlefield. And now they are systematically going to work to take that apart.

[08:25:12]

He's, obviously, playing the strong man, isn't he, showing that he stepped in and resolved this situation. But does that narrative work when he isn't penalizing Prigozhin necessarily illegally anyway, and he's clearing all of the fighters of any sort of wrongdoing charges that might have been there?

DOZIER: Well, that's still a little bit murky. He's made public statements that the Wagner forces won't be prosecuted. But yesterday, we were hearing from state prosecutors that the charges against Prigozhin hadn't necessarily been dropped. And it's just -- it's not clear, I think, that's hanging over Prigozhin's head to try to make him behave.

But there is a deadline coming up where we'll see just how popular Prigozhin remains. All of the Wagner fighters have to, by this weekend, make a choice -- go to Belarus with Prigozhin, go back home, or sign a Russian military contract. So Putin is putting a loyalty test out there and telling them, you know, are you with me? Are you with the state?

And remember, we're the ones that have been footing the bill, or are you going to side with him? By this weekend, we may have an answer for that.

FOSTER: Briefly, what do you make of Prigozhin being in Belarus? Why is he there? Why would that country allow him to be there when he's their enemy as well, arguably?

DOZIER: Well, I know we'd heard that his jet had touched down, and I apologize if I've missed CNN confirming that he himself is there. There was a big question mark as to whether he would go to a proxy Russian state run by Lukashenko is in the pocket of Putin and does his bidding. And the FSB has thorough control over the opposition groups in Belarus as well. So if he's decided to go there, then he thinks he's still got some popularity, and maybe he's trying to negotiate some control of what's left over of Wagner, perhaps in Africa.

FOSTER: OK, Kimberly, thank you very much indeed. And you're right, we haven't had it confirmed exactly where he is. We will bring that to people once we have it.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London.

World Sport with Amanda is up next.

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