00:02Tonight, the fight inside Putin's army is now playing out on Russian state TV.
00:07One of Putin's top propagandists berating audience members for defending Major General Ivan Popov.
00:12He's a former Russian commander who was fired after criticizing the Russian military in a voice message.
00:18Here's Vladimir Solovyov reading and responding to his viewers' comments.
00:26Quote, he didn't violate anything by a statement, unquote.
00:30Of course he did.
00:32Irina, if you don't understand this, that is your problem.
00:36Of course it was a violation.
00:38Being emotional got the best of him.
00:40Andre, you are a pathetic nobody.
00:43A cretin.
00:44Let me repeat it.
00:46You're afraid to even say who you are.
00:48Get out of here, you gross swine.
00:51A worthless piece of...
00:54Well, all this is Putin's closest ally, Belarus, is now saying it's reached an agreement with Russia's Wagner fighters
00:59to train its troops.
01:01Alex Markhart is out front in Ukraine.
01:05New video on Belarusian state TV claiming to show Wagner mercenaries in southern Belarus training local troops.
01:13Neighboring Belarus was where Wagner leader Evgeny Prigozhin was supposed to be exiled to after his aborted insurrection in Russia,
01:20throwing his fate and that of Wagner's into doubt.
01:23In a new interview released today, Putin proclaimed,
01:27We do not have a law for private military organizations.
01:30It simply does not exist.
01:32The group exists, but legally it does not exist.
01:35Putin is referencing Russia's law against mercenary groups, but also stating a new reality.
01:42Wagner, as it has existed in Ukraine as a fighting force, could be done.
01:48And Prigozhin, once called Putin's chef, may be split from his men.
01:52We really don't know what the future of Wagner is going to be here, whether it's in Ukraine or anywhere
01:57else around the world.
01:58We know that they are still conducting malicious activities, particularly in Africa.
02:03After the Wagner mutiny came to a sudden halt on June 24th, Putin furiously accused the mercenaries of being traitors.
02:10Then, just five days later, Putin said in the interview he invited 35 Wagner commanders, including Prigozhin, to the Kremlin
02:19and offered them a chance to repent.
02:21I showed them possible options for their further service, Putin said, including the use of their combat experience.
02:27Putin offered the Wagner leaders the chance to continue fighting in the Russian army under their commander, nicknamed Sadoi, or
02:35gray hair, Andrei Troshev, a retired colonel and founding member of Wagner.
02:41Troshev is sanctioned by the EU and the UK.
02:44He's fought in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria, earning Russia's highest military honors.
02:49The men, Putin said, nodded affirmatively.
02:52But Prigozhin, sitting in the front, said after listening, no, the guys do not agree with this decision.
02:59So what happened after Prigozhin apparently openly disagreed with Putin?
03:04That we don't know.
03:05Prigozhin may now be out of Ukraine, but he certainly wants to hold on to his business interests, both in
03:10Africa and in the Middle East.
03:12As for what happened to his men, the Pentagon says that the bulk of them are back here in Ukraine,
03:18in Russian-occupied areas, back in their barracks.
03:21But the Defense Department says they are no longer taking part in military operations here in Ukraine.
03:26Erika?
03:26Alex Marquardt with Important Reporting tonight.
03:29Out front now, Bill Browder, longtime Putin critic who's wanted in Russia.
03:33He was, of course, once the country's largest foreign investor.
03:35He's also the author of Freezing Order, a true story of money laundering, murder, and surviving Vladimir Putin's wrath.
03:41Bill, good to see you tonight.
03:42What do you think, based on what you know, what do you think has happened to Prigozhin at this point?
03:47Well, it's unclear what's happened to Prigozhin, but what seems to be clear is that Putin has been put in
03:54the most humiliating situation.
03:57Now, Putin is a guy who will imprison somebody who gives a speech about him in a negative way for
04:0225 years.
04:03But here you have got a guy, Prigozhin, who led a rebellion of 15,000 of his own mercenaries, took
04:11over a bunch of Russian military bases, and he has a meeting with Putin.
04:15And Putin says, I'm trying to convince him to repent.
04:18And this is not the way that Putin demonstrates that he's the strongman dictator that he's been so effective at
04:25demonstrating for the last 23 years.
04:27And it looks like intense and total weakness on Putin's part to even allow this, allow Prigozhin to continue to
04:34live.
04:34That's what's so fascinating to me, you know, as you bring up the fact that Putin would say this in
04:39this interview, that five days after that mutiny, that he met with Wagner commanders, met with Prigozhin, offered them the
04:45chance to keep fighting under new leadership.
04:47They agreed. Then Prigozhin said, no, the guys don't agree with the decision.
04:50The fact that he would actually say all of this in an interview, that's astounding.
04:58It's truly astounding. And what it shows is that Putin has completely opened himself up to other people having having
05:06a go at him.
05:07I mean, the only way that he's been able to stay in power for the last 22 years is to
05:12be the the most vicious, nasty, scary, strong man there was in Russia.
05:17And everybody has been sort of tiptoeing around him and scared of him and worrying about what's going to happen.
05:22And all of a sudden, somebody comes in and shows that the king's not wearing any clothes.
05:26That that Putin basically isn't the strong man, that that people put flowers and took selfies with the invading Prigozhin
05:35mercenaries as they rolled through different towns in Russia.
05:38It shows that Putin's not popular. It shows that Putin's not the strong man.
05:42And it shows that in a certain way, Prigozhin was was more popular than Putin.
05:46And the fact that Putin hasn't taken this guy to Red Square, put him in a guillotine and chopped his
05:52head off, shows that Prigozhin has an enormous amount of power.
05:56And Putin's scared of him.
05:58It is. It is really something in terms of that power and that Putin, again, saying these things publicly in
06:05that interview, scared of him, as you point out.
06:07I also want to talk to you about I know that next week you're going to be giving some testimony
06:10before U.S. government commission.
06:11This is set to happen Tuesday about Russia's ability to evade sanctions, launder money in Switzerland.
06:17So Switzerland is where Putin's inner circle have long played.
06:21We have a picture, I think, of the reported home of Putin's ex-wife, Lyudmila.
06:24So you see it there. It's nestled, highlighted there, nestled at the base of a mountain in Davos.
06:29According to The Wall Street Journal, Putin's girlfriend, the Russian Olympic gymnast, Alina Kaveva, has lived in a high-walled
06:35mansion near Geneva, too.
06:37In terms of Switzerland, what is Switzerland doing here?
06:42How is this also impacting the war in Ukraine?
06:46Well, a lot of people think of Switzerland as being a totally legitimate sort of rule-abiding country.
06:52But, in fact, Switzerland is this total loophole when it comes to Russian sanctions evasion.
06:58About $200 billion of Russian money is reported to be held in Swiss banks.
07:04And when the Swiss got to freezing that money, they only froze $7.8 billion of that money, letting a
07:10lot of it go.
07:11Moreover, we've been involved with the Swiss law enforcement in freezing money connected to the murder of my lawyer, Sergei
07:18Magnitsky.
07:18About 10 years ago, they froze $20 million of that money.
07:21And they're now going to return almost all that money to the Russian criminals, people who are already on the
07:28U.S. sanctions list, on the Canadian, U.K., and Australian sanctions list.
07:31And so Congress is having hearings on Tuesday to discuss these issues.
07:36I'm testifying about my own experience.
07:37And I think a bunch of other people will be sharing their experiences.
07:40And I think this will not make Switzerland look very good.
07:44And a lot of people have a lot of questions about what role Switzerland should be playing in the future.
07:49Bill, we'll be watching for that on Tuesday.
07:50Always good to have your insight.
07:54Out front next, an arrest in the Long Island serial killings from more than a decade ago.
07:59An architect, married father of two, is in custody tonight.
08:06Rex Hewerman.
08:07I'm an architect, I'm an architectural consultant, I'm a troubleshooter.
08:11Born and raised on Long Island.
08:13Okay.
08:14Been working in Manhattan since 1987.
08:18Plus, the Republicans running for president all in Iowa tonight, except for one.
08:24Former President Trump, new reporting on his team strategy.
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