00:00 We can now bring in our international affairs editor, Philip Turrell. Philip, great to see you as always.
00:05 We have this confirmation coming from Belarus that Yevgeny Prigozhin has landed in the country.
00:11 What's he going to do now that he's in Belarus? Sit on his hands?
00:15 So, there are several possibilities. The first one, he just disappeared into the woodwork and we won't hear from him anymore.
00:20 But that seems highly unlikely if you remember that he is a very loud-mouthed man
00:26 who has no problem in saying exactly what he thinks and criticizing Russian leadership.
00:31 The big question is, is he now going to transfer that attention to the leadership in Belarus?
00:36 Has he even arrived in Belarus yet? We haven't had this independently confirmed,
00:40 although President Alexander Lukashenko says that he is now in the country.
00:44 Not sure he's landed yet because the jet that came in may not have been carrying him.
00:49 So, we don't know exactly what he's going to do there.
00:52 But I think many people in Belarus are looking on the fact that Yevgeny Prigozhin is in the country
00:59 with a very sympathetic eye because they're a bit worried about exactly what he's going to be doing
01:04 once he lives in the country and what his maneuvers are going to be concerning not only
01:10 launching attacks maybe into Ukraine from the southern border in Belarus
01:15 and also his criticism of the leadership there.
01:18 What we're talking about here, Delano, is a game of people looking after each other
01:23 because they are scared about the fact that if one regime collapses,
01:27 it will be like a house of cards, they will all collapse.
01:30 And Alexander Lukashenko knows that if Vladimir Putin's regime collapses, his will also collapse.
01:36 He's even said the terms, "If Putin goes, then I will also find myself under the rubble."
01:41 So, there's been a negotiation going on.
01:44 We don't know how that negotiation happened, whether Alexander Lukashenko was the man
01:48 who actually did negotiate the departure of Yevgeny Prigozhin to Belarus
01:53 or whether there were other names in the Kremlin that were doing this.
01:57 There are three names that are coming up at the moment.
01:59 The first one is Anton Vaino, the chief of staff of the presidential executive office.
02:03 The second one is Nikolai Patruchev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council.
02:08 And the third one is Boris Grezlov, who is the Russian ambassador in Belarus.
02:12 There are rumors that they met with President Putin and said, "You've got to end this now.
02:16 You've got to offer a way out to Yevgeny Prigozhin to send him to Belarus.
02:20 You have to bring Alexander Lukashenko on board, get him to issue the invitation that he's gone there."
02:26 Question now is, what is the impact that those three have on President Putin?
02:31 Do they have influence over President Putin?
02:33 We don't know about that at the time being, but that looks as though it could have been a scenario
02:37 in trying to end what could have been a very difficult situation for the Russian president
02:42 if that rebellion had got any further towards Moscow.
02:45 Let's talk about Wagner for a second because this mercenary group obviously is active in various parts of the world,
02:55 including in Ukraine and in Mali and the Central African Republic.
02:59 Earlier today, we had Belarus' president who says his country will benefit from Wagner fighters
03:06 and earlier we had Russian officials who are saying they're integrating Wagner military hardware into the Russian army.
03:15 So who is going to be essentially calling the shots for Wagner? Will it be Prigozhin?
03:20 Well, that is also one of those questions nobody knows the answer to.
03:22 There are so many questions that are left without answers at the moment.
03:26 We don't know what the future role of Yevgeny Prigozhin is going to be.
03:29 I think it's pretty definite to say he won't be pulling the strings as far as Wagner is concerned in its role in Ukraine anymore.
03:34 They're going to have to find someone to take over that job.
03:37 There are a few names being bantered about, but no one in particular has been pinpointed as being the successor to Yevgeny Prigozhin.
03:45 What does that mean for the support that his fighters are going to get?
03:49 Will they get as much money if they join the regular Russian army? Obviously not.
03:52 Will some of them retire? How many will go to Belarus?
03:55 All of those are questions we don't know.
03:57 Then on the international front, the impact that Wagner has on the African continent in Latin America,
04:03 that is something that is very important to the Russian regime because they are able to not only keep a tab on what is going on in those countries,
04:12 but also bring out mineral resources and wealth to Russia.
04:16 So does that mean that Yevgeny Prigozhin is going to be still pulling the strings there?
04:21 That is another question that we don't know the answer to.
04:24 And if he isn't, who could do it?
04:26 And will the Wagner forces obey the new leader like they would Yevgeny Prigozhin?
04:30 We really don't know at the moment any of the answers to those questions.
04:32 The question of loyalty is an important one.
04:34 We'll know in the days and weeks to come.
04:36 Thank you very much for that, Philipp Tauber.
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