Russia staged a fourth straight
night of missile attacks on Odessa.
Ukraine says the strikes hit
grain facilities
and destroyed
large stocks of peas and barley.
A military official says
the attacks are undoubtedly
tied to Russia's withdrawal
from the Black Sea grain deal.
This week, we've seen grain prices surge,
with wheat futures
spiking more than 10%
the CIA director is warning
Russia may stage a false flag operation
in the Black Sea, as both sides say
the other may attack
commercial shipping interests.
We see some very concerning signs of
the Russians
considering the kind of false flag
of operations that you know,
we highlighted in the run
up to the war as well.
In other words,
looking at ways in which,
you know,
they might make attacks
against shipping in the Black Sea
and then blaming it
or trying to blame it on the Ukrainians.
Well, Fred
Pleitgen is back with us
this hour from Berlin.
Look,
security in the black
sea has deteriorated significantly.
CIA chief
warning of a false flag operation.
What else did he say
Well, one of the other things
that he also talked about,
despite or aside
from the security in the Black Sea,
which,
of course, is a huge topic
in and of itself, and also right now,
a very dangerous situation.
There is generally the state
of Vladimir Putin's power
and how things stand after that mutiny.
If that, of course, happened
in late June.
And one of the things that Bill Burns
also said is that he believes
that Vladimir Putin continues to need
both Yevgeny Prigozhin
and also the fighters of the volunteer
private military company.
Of course,
one of the things that we've been talking
about over the past couple of days
is how those volunteer fighters,
Illini have now arrived
in Belarus, are training
below Russian forces,
but of course,
also causing a lot of headache
for NATO's
Eastern European countries as well.
The Poles moving
some forces into that area,
saying they are very concerned
about the situation
with a very potent Russian force there
on the territory of Belarus.
One of the things that Bill Burns
said, though,
is he believes that Vladimir Putin
is playing a long game
with Yevgeny Prigozhin
and that Prigozhin will be Vladimir
Putin's wrath at some point.
Let's listen in.
What we're seeing
is a very
complicated dance
between promotion and Putin.
I think
Putin is someone who generally thinks
that revenge is a dish best served cold.
So he's going to try
to settle the situation to the extent
he can
But again, in my experience,
Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback.
So I would be surprised
if promotion escapes
further retribution for this.
So in that sense, the president's right.
If I were promotion,
I wouldn't fire my food taster
bad time to fire the food taster
for you of gaining promotion.
Of course,
we saw
that video of Yevgeny Prigozhin
addressing those Wagner mercenaries
in Belarus.
Just yesterday,
seemingly still very much in charge
of the organization,
saying that some of those mercenaries
should go to Africa
for some other contracts.
At the same time,
of course, we do know
that Vladimir Putin
is someone
who is not averse
to taking revenge on people.
Nevertheless, right now,
with the situation
going the way it is for the Russians
on the battlefield,
certainly those fighters from the
private military company,
those mercenaries
definitely are something
that would be in high demand
for the Russians.
So, so afraid.
I spoke with the EU commissioner
on economy about
what has been happening, Paolo Gentiloni.
Talk to me about the risks
for low income countries.
I want you to listen to
what he has to say.
It is an extraordinary
risk for low income countries.
We experienced already a few months ago
the impact of food crisis
Then the Green Deal was
a tool to reduce this impact.
And now we are back again.
I think this is a clear
message that this war is affecting
also low income countries
and the Global
South And this,
I think, should be clear
in the international community.
The Russian responsibility
What is your take on this?
A dire warning there
from the commissioner
Well, I would say that
first and foremost, it's going to impact
low income countries,
as we've seen already,
the prices of grains
and other agricultural goods surging.
With that grain deal
falling, apart
and the Russians pulling out,
and certainly
that is something that is set
most probably to continue
if no sort of resolution is found.
And that, of course,
could lead to severe food
shortages as well.
That's something
the Ukrainians are saying.
The US is saying,
the E.U. is saying
and others are saying
the big problem right now
is that this is essentially
turning into a standoff
between Ukraine and Russia.
Both sides
saying that they could consider
even commercial vessels
that go to each other's ports
or go to the ports,
the respective country,
to possibly be carrying military cargo.
So right now, very difficult
to see how this is resolved.
The Turks are trying,
but so far from some of the statements
that just today
that we're seeing from Russian officials,
it seems as though right now
Russia is out of the deal.
It can be very difficult to
get it back in aligning.
Yeah, to get them back
to the negotiating table.
Fred Pleitgen, thank you.