Speaker 1: Hey guys, we have some really huge breaking news with
Speaker 1: regards to that Russian coup attempt. So let me just
Speaker 1: jump right in here. It looks like the coup attempt,
Speaker 1: at least this phase of it, may be over. Let
Speaker 1: me go ahead and put this up on the screen.
Speaker 1: This is the statement from Progosion. He says they were
Speaker 1: going to dismantle PMC. Wagner. We came out on June
Speaker 1: twenty three to the March of Justice. In a day,
Speaker 1: we walked to nearly two hundred kilometers away from Moscow.
Speaker 1: In this time, we did not spill a single drop
Speaker 1: of blood of our fighters. Now the moment has come
Speaker 1: when blood may spill. That's why understanding the responsibility for
Speaker 1: spilling Russian blood on one of the sides. We are
Speaker 1: turning back our convoys and going back to field camps
Speaker 1: according to the plan. So Progosion, the head of course
Speaker 1: of the Wagner group that launched this now attempted coup attempt,
Speaker 1: saying that they are going back to the base camps,
Speaker 1: that they are effectively retreating. And the backstory here is
Speaker 1: that apparently there was some deal making with Lukashenko, who
Speaker 1: is the president of Belarus. Let's put this piece up
Speaker 1: on the screen. This is everything we know. And by
Speaker 1: the way, guys, we haven't heard a word as of
Speaker 1: the recording of this video from the Krumlin or from Putin,
Speaker 1: so we don't know their side of the story. But
Speaker 1: here is what Max said on who is the Moscow
Speaker 1: buearer chief at the Financial Times is tweeting He says
Speaker 1: Belarus says they have convinced Progosion to stand down his
Speaker 1: armed up rising. Lukashenko spent quote the entire day negotiating
Speaker 1: with Progosion, after agreeing on joint actions with Putin and
Speaker 1: additionally clarifying the situation through his own channels. No immediate
Speaker 1: confirmation from the Krumlin. We did get confirmation though from Progosion,
Speaker 1: he again saying this was like part of the plan here,
Speaker 1: and we have some early indications that perhaps part of
Speaker 1: the deal was some of the military leadership, the Russian
Speaker 1: military leadership that Progosion had been beefing with for a
Speaker 1: while now, that perhaps part of the deal was that
Speaker 1: they are going to be removed and others put in place,
Speaker 1: but that we don't have any confirmation on. And with
Speaker 1: all of this, you have to understand take it with
Speaker 1: a grain AsSalt wait for things to play out, because
Speaker 1: these are incredibly chaotic and fast moving developments. But just
Speaker 1: a stunning twenty four hours here when you have the
Speaker 1: Wagner group, you know, group of mercenaries launching this attempted uprising,
Speaker 1: armed rebellion, coup, attempts, civil war, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: call it, marching fairly unimpeded within two hundred kilometers of Moscow.
Speaker 1: The mayor of Moscow was issuing state of emergency, they
Speaker 1: were trying to muster some sort of defense. There were reports,
Speaker 1: these again unconfirmed, that Putin and some of the top
Speaker 1: Kremlin officials had been flown out of Moscow to Saint Petersburg.
Speaker 1: Again that's unconfirmed, but you know, absolutely humiliating for Putin
Speaker 1: and now rather humiliating for Progosion as well. He had
Speaker 1: become a real social media superstar during the war. And
Speaker 1: part of how this all came to pass is because
Speaker 1: the Russian military, like the actual direct Russian military strength,
Speaker 1: was so weak, and they had struggled so much in
Speaker 1: the Ukraine War that they had basically had to rely
Speaker 1: on this group of mercenaries in order to make any
Speaker 1: sort of progress. So Wagner really instrumental. For example, in
Speaker 1: the Battle of Bakmut, that is where a lot of
Speaker 1: the tensions really escalated between him and Choigo and some
Speaker 1: of the other military leadership. They claimed that they were
Speaker 1: their mercenaries were being denied ammunition and being denied some
Speaker 1: of the weapons that they needed. He's leveled charges of
Speaker 1: incompetence against the top military brass within Russia. And then
Speaker 1: with regard to this Kotem Sager covered some of this
Speaker 1: in the video that he did previously. In the beginning
Speaker 1: phases here he said that the Ukraine War was a mistake,
Speaker 1: that it was built on lies, and that was part
Speaker 1: of the motivation for launching this armed rebellion. So, you know,
Speaker 1: impossible to stay what happens next. Perhaps the immediate danger
Speaker 1: to Putin's regime has passed, but this is a humiliating
Speaker 1: and really existential crisis for him. It will have huge
Speaker 1: implications in terms of their ability to prosecute the war
Speaker 1: in Ukraine at a time when Ukraine is attempting to
Speaker 1: mount a serious counter offensive and the real questions about
Speaker 1: how that would all unfold. Wagner has been, as I said,
Speaker 1: one of the most effective parts of their fighting forces.
Speaker 1: So just losing that ability in and of itself is
Speaker 1: you know, incredibly damaging potentially to the Russian war effort.
Speaker 1: How does this lead Putin to feel like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm under pressure here. I got to suit for peace.
Speaker 1: Let me get to the negotiating table. Possible? I think
Speaker 1: probably unlikely, you know, more likely that someone like him,
Speaker 1: this sort of more strong man authoritarian leader, is likely
Speaker 1: to double down when faced with this set of circumstances.
Speaker 1: But he has shown a lot of weakness in his
Speaker 1: regime based on how this all unfolded, even with Progosi
Speaker 1: now appearing to get cold feet and turning back. So
Speaker 1: that's effectively all we can say. You know, I guess
Speaker 1: the last piece that I'll add here is, uh, there
Speaker 1: was a lot of discourse online about like who to
Speaker 1: cheer for in this whole situation, and you know, the
Speaker 1: idea of a nuclear armed superpower being potentially headed by
Speaker 1: the you know, brutal leader of this mercenary group is
Speaker 1: a terrifying situation. And even with the potential end of
Speaker 1: this coup attempt, it still remains a very volatile and
Speaker 1: very dangerous situation when you are dealing with a nuclear
Speaker 1: armed superpower and uh, you know, authoritarian leader with his
Speaker 1: back against the wall. So that's everything we know at
Speaker 1: this point. We will certainly keep you updated with everything
Speaker 1: as it unfolds. This will certainly have tremendous implications within Rush.
Speaker 1: Saga and I were talking and he was mentioning, you know,
Speaker 1: it's very likely there's going to be a huge crackdown
Speaker 1: on descent domestically, as there already has been. But in
Speaker 1: response to this kind of weakness, the response is not
Speaker 1: going to be like, let's have tolerance and let's have
Speaker 1: a free marketplace of ideas. So you can certainly see
Speaker 1: that coming for the Russian domestic population, and then no
Speaker 1: way to know what it means in terms of the
Speaker 1: Ukrainian War, but we'll be watching it closely. We've got Yegor,
Speaker 1: our friend who lives in Moscow, to give us a
Speaker 1: live report from that city on Monday and tell us
Speaker 1: what this has all been like and what he's hearing
Speaker 1: and what the sentiment is on the ground. So look
Speaker 1: forward to that and we will see you all soon.