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, you virtually stop the civil war.
You proved your faithfulness for the Russian motherland.
And for the military.
You showed your responsibility for the motherland.
Now defense, the interior ministry, shows the important work, strategic including defense
sites.
Security of border regions.
Of our armed forces.
[6:40:14 AM]
Of our armed forces.
And all fighting units to have continued in this time, to work on the front, in a heroic
way.
Because we could not remove the military subdivisions.
In resisting against those people who were trying to cause an uprising in carrying out
your military duty.
Now we shall have a minute of silence.
In their memory.
Their comrades, you are
[6:41:25 AM]
Their comrades, you are decisiveness, and your courage, as well as your consolidation,
unity of the whole Russian society has played a huge role instability.
Those people who tried to bring us into an uprising, those subdivisions of all the armed
forces were able to stop and extremely dangerous circumstance, of the development of the country.
There was no victim amongst the civilians.
I am grateful to you, and to the armed forces, the forces of security, special services,
services.
For your goodness, for your faithfulness for the people of Russia.
♪♪ ♪♪ [sound of artillery]
[6:42:36 AM]
[sound of artillery] >> Reporter:
[sound of artillery] >>, I wish your success, thank you.
>> President Putin now speaking in Moscow, a very formal event,
[6:43:38 AM]
in Moscow, a very formal event, a real sense of history, he's having at the moment.
Really crediting his security forces for preventing what he, called a civil war, what could have
been a civil war.
Minute silence, nic Robertson is with me.
The staging of that moment was quite, interesting wasn't it?
>> Theater.
Look it's quite incredible, is it not?
We know that prigozhin's forces were able to get within 125 miles of Moscow, and all
of this military that Putin is crediting, with saving the country from civil war barely
where they seen on that route.
The road was clear.
They certainly, this is the point that protests go Asian made, this is an issue you have my
force king drive all the way to Moscow so quickly.
Very typical of the Kremlin, very critical, very typical of Putin to go and change what's
actually happened, set a new narrative.
Put the pride in the fatherland, put the pride in the
[6:44:39 AM]
put the pride in the motherland.
Put the pride of the nation in this soldier.
To give them a reason to think of themselves as being brave.
And greats.
>> He's a war leader essentially.
>> Yes, ignore the fact.
There was that one minute of silence, it wasn't clear, this is a minute of silence for those
lost in action against prigozhin's forces?
But who are they?
The Kremlin has not put out -- >> The aircraft specifically?
>> The, aircraft we heard incidences of one plane being shot down, helicopters being shot,
and we haven't seen evidence of that, we believe ten people were killed on that aircraft.
And 22 that were shot.
Ludicrous elf, that were shot down by prigozhin forces.
He admit he fired back, he sorry for the casualties.
Again there's no detail here, we do not know from the Kremlin how many people were killed
on that.
[6:45:40 AM]
that.
Now there's a minute of silence, it's just given this grand performance, without names.
It is very much Putin trying to set the narrative, that they are a great country, no civilian
was killed, he said, everyone was safe.
This is very important for him to state because part of the unwritten contract with the leader
of Russia.
With Putin, between the people, is that you will have our supports.
We will ignore the fact that you lied to us all we know you do.
As long as the country is stable and secure.
He is reaffirming the stability and security of the country.
Trying to firm up that compact.
>> And he contradicts prigozhin, who says he wasn't trying to topple the government,
it was that he wasn't going to war.
Just trying to prove a point.
That he wanted to keep his units together effectively, because the military threatened
to disband them.
>> He sounds, let's go back with the translation again afterwards, this is sort of done in
the moment.
The use of the language, civil war, his escalated what this was all about.
[6:46:41 AM]
was all about.
He's made it bigger than a rebellion, talking about a civil war.
Did he really believe that?
Putin's narrative here is that he didn't try to capture or kill prigozhin, but he had him
cornered on Saturday.
Merely left him to escape the country, extensively, going to neighboring Belarus, where he's going
to be in exile.
We understand that was the deal.
But he let him get away.
And that speaks to a fear and concern about what would happen if he went after prigozhin.
What would the Wagner mercenary fighters do?
What would others in the military?
Do until now and even now the reality of the message behind what Putin is saying, is this
is, he is in a weak position, it's not quite clear why he feels so -- but let's look at
the way, back in 2002 for example.
There was a hostage situation.
In a theater in Moscow, Putin authorized his security
[6:47:48 AM]
authorized his security services to pump it full of a toxic agent so they could disable
the hostage takers in that process 130 hostages died and were killed as a result of the chemical
gas.
That was Putin 20 years ago, when he wasn't afraid of the collateral damage of what could
happen.
It's clear here he is afraid of the collateral damage of going after physically, prigozhin,
and capturing or killing him on Saturday.
It's still, he's afraid, of how much support there is, larger in the country trying to
firm up, and shore up the security services here.
Who did not stand in the way prigozhin's forces, who didn't come out in the way that Putin
is trying to say they did.
They will know that, they will understand.
The people understand, the people of Russia.
Is it going to change anything in this moments?
I sort of doubt it.
>> Well Russians be confused though?
If he's talking about a potential civil war, that makes
[6:48:49 AM]
potential civil war, that makes prigozhin an enemy.
As you say, he let him go.
He is not being punished in anyway, apart from he's being sent to exile.
It's not going to be particularly difficult one from what we can tell.
Are we underestimating?
Him the punishment will come later?
>> I, think one should never underestimate Putin, his enemies have underestimated him
in the past.
This is something we keep hearing from the Ukrainians, and actually from the nato secretary,
do not underestimate Russia, even in this moment.
I am sure that prigozhin realizes his life is in danger.
He cannot trust what comes from the Kremlin.
He is believed, and understood, despite what he says to have cross Putin personally.
He has had a strong connection with Putin in the past, they have developed a lucrative
business, interests in Africa, that benefit Putin.
He has developed essentially, relations with small third world states, in Africa, to benefit
Russia.
He has had this close
[6:49:49 AM]
He has had this close relationship, with Putin.
We do not understand the nature of it.
How is he got a pass from Putin?