Putin greets supporters in rare appearance after Wagner rebellion

Putin is surrounding himself with adoring crowds, claiming he has public support after the by Wagner mercenary forces. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Ukr For us tonight. He's covering all the new develo Nick, first of all, what message is Putin sending with this latest appeara I think it's a pretty cheap bid to replicate the scenes, frankly We saw in Rostov on Saturday where Evgeny Prigozhin, the

insurrection leader, had peo not mobbing but coming up close and embracing his hand through the window of an SUV. Here is Putin in there, bent in an area where we saw protests against some of the mobilization that we saw last year with a crowd that looks, frankly, pretty stage, very ador very close to him, not the Putin who kept everyone at a distance during the pandemic

and for quite a while after it. But it comes after a day in which more reporting is emerg suggesting the splits and danger from his own military top brass. I spoke to a European intelligence official who said it was possible that there had been prior knowle among the Russian military and security establishment of this insurrection. He said they'd heard of hints to that effect and that

possibly some of those had, in fact, wanted to see how it played out or even see it succeed. And that Putin's prestige had been damaged. And that may well have been what these differing factions in the elite had indeed sought. So a lot suggesting here that Putin's been deeply shaken in terms of his authority despite the images they're projecting from Dagestan of him with adoring crowds

Wolf. And Nick, it's interesting that this failed mutiny is almost certain, certainly going to increase Putin's paranoia. So what does that mean for his inner circle A pretty paranoid man going to go yet further still. Absolutely. And we heard some reporting from The New York Times today suggesting that Sergei sort of v who was until recently the comma of the Ukraine invasion that he had, according

to U.S. intelligence assessments, potentially had prior knowledge of the Prigozhin insurrection. Now, there's no evidence publicly available to back that up and indeed, some that we know publicly contradict He did appear on television on F telling people to stand down, to not go along with the Prigozhin Rebellion and indeed the Air For which he now commands, were involved in trying to slow movements towards Moscow. But

still, as far as we're aware, he hasn't been seen in public since the deal was struck between Prigozhin, the president of Belarus, and Pu And that's led many to think there may be a lot of scrutiny within the Moscow elite, the top and possibly Putin trying to reestablish authority or in this very divided, very fraught at times kleptocratic and frankly, lethal circle that he's created after

23 years in power bids, people try and out with each other, outdo each othe to profit from the situation. In And so that is going to make people in Kiev here, frankly, fighting Russia in the war deeply unhappy at the possibility of yet more d within the Russian top brass. And I think we may begin to see more details in the days and weeks ahead is

exactly how this likely bitte struggle of anxiety as they try and assess how this extraordinar to Putin occurred play out in some quite bitter di and maybe even repercussions wil I'm sure we will be learning a l a lot more. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much for that. Re Let's discuss what's going on ri with a veteran of the U.S. National Security Council with a

lot of expertize on both and Ukraine. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman is joining us. He's in Kiev, the Ukrainian capi right now. Alex, thanks so much for joining What does it say that the Kremli put out this video of Putin surrounded by admirers just a few days after we saw Rus cheering the Wagner chief after his failed mutiny Thanks for having me on. It's it's pretty

surreal. You don't see Putin out in publi We haven't seen him in quite som He's certainly with regards to C he was very, very insular. He kept folks, even his inner circle at arm's l Everybody remembers those tables You know, kind of like a pitch, a football field away from his closest advisers so he doesn't go out publicly. This has to be a certainly respo to

what seemed like popular supp for Prigozhin in Rostov. And Putin is, in a way, trying t till he makes it fake it, until he really kind of feels more comfor in his own position. Demonstrate to his own inner cir that he actually is in charge and convince them that he's still in charge. So I think this is a completely kind of a show. And Putin trying

to kind of recreate a narrative that he's he's in ch How do you expect Putin may try to consolidate con right now in the aftermath of this truly unprecedented threat that he dealt with? I think there are ghosts in the shadows for him and he's keenly aware that, you know, what he thought was a tight inner circle, folks, that he didn't really need to worry about

folks that he basically develope and kept in place mainly for loyalty, even if their competence is ques or may not be as loyal as he thi And in this case, he frankly is totally responsibl for this insurrection, you know, near coup attempt because he was aware of the infi between Prigozhin and the Ministry of Defense. For months, he could have put a stop to it. He

elites, and frankly, around the world. Some strength. So we could see him lashing out in different kinds o to demonstrate that he's still the strongman that he pretended to be before t Yeah, good point. The Ukrainian president Zelensky acknowledged that the Volker for at least some of them Volker forces are still in Ukrai Watch and listen to this a volume that of the Wagner lights are

present on the temporary occupied territory of Ukraine. They are. And they were present in the Luhansk region. This is true. A lot of them were eliminated by our defense forces. Over 20,000 of them were elimina This issue. So, Alex, to what extent will those volunteer mercenaries actually factor into the ongoing I think they're a huge headache for the Russian armed forces. They're not trusted, so they

can't be put back into t They're still heavily armed and they're still in a vulnerable position. Nobody on the Russian side and the leadership wants those folks back on the ro to Russia off or heading towards So a portion of the force that should be fighting for to seize Ukraine for Putin's obj is now policing Wagner. That is a reserve element that was intended likely to

be a plug holes when the Ukrainians break throug There's still a lot of unknowns. I think from my perspective. The biggest lesson learned is that Putin is Putin's regime is brittle and Ukraine is likely to win thi The question is, what does the U do to aid this fight? And in just about ten days and there will be a NATO's summi My hope is my national

security analysis suggests that the U.S. should seize this moment to make a strong overture for Ukraine to join Naito That could be an affirmative app that could be lasting and bring security to the region certainly after this war is done But even as this war kind of sta to wind down towards the end this year after a successful Ukraine offensive, this would be a huge step

forwar that the U.S. should be pushing Well, let's see if that happens. Certainly, President Zelensky would welcome that decision. Alexander Vindman, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you.