Reuters World News - The morning after Russia’s weekend mutiny

Episode Date: June 26, 2023

Western powers see cracks in President Putin’s authority after an aborted mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries over the weekend. What next for the Russian leader and his war in Ukraine? Plus, how events in Russia may reverberate in Africa and the market impact. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt-out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An extraordinary weekend in Russia. The world watching as a Russian mercenary group barreled towards Moscow, only to abruptly turn back. A mutiny averted, but the damage to Putin may have been done. It's Monday, June 26th. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday.

I'm Kim Vinal in London. A convoy carrying. tanks barrels towards Moscow. After the head of the Wagner mercenary group sent his fighters to advance on the Russian capital with blistering speed. Twenty hours later, it was over. So what on earth happened?

Christian Lowe has been reporting on the story. Christian, how did this all begin? Yvgeny Pryoggi, and Bossa Wagner, has had a long-running feud with the Defence Minister Sergei Shogu that really reached a turning point at the end of last week, when Pligodzian alleged that the defence ministry had fired on a Wagner camp in eastern Ukraine. At that point, he said, I'm going to avenge this.

I'm going on what he called a march of justice. And he set off with two armed columns. And then what happened? They got to Rosdavondal. Tell us what happened next. One Wagner column, got into Rostov. That is where the Russian military has its headquarters, the southern military district. As far as we can tell, no shots were fired. They walked in and they made themselves at home there.

At the same time, a different group were moving north in the direction of Moscow. We had these remarkable scenes where Russian Defence Ministry helicopters were flying overhead, trying to interdict the Wagner column. And it looks from the video that we've seen that Wagner used their anti-aircraft weapons that fire at these Russian Defence Ministry helicopters. Incredible scenes in the heart of Russia. What was Putin's response through all of this over the hours that this was happening? So there was some hours after Prigodzian announced that he was setting off on this mutiny,

before Putin actually publicly said anything. When he did, he made an address to the nation. He said this was a stab in the back. This was an armed mutiny. And he said that those responsible would be harshly punished. How did people respond to progozian's answer? actions. When the Wagner forces were pulling out, there were crowds of people in the street in Rostov chanting Wagner Wagner. A Reuters photographer got an image of a local person reaching

through the window of Pregorjean's SUV as he drove away to shake him by the hand. So on the evidence of what happened in Rostov, people feel warmly impositive towards Wagner, which is remarkable because at the same time they had their president going on television saying this person has stabbed Russia in the back. How did the mutiny collapse? So we think that the northernmost Wagner column got to a place called Lipitz, because it's about 300 kilometers out of Moscow. At that point, Griggen said, I'm stopping,

because we're at the point now where our people's blood is going to be shed if we proceed further. This near mutiny was an unprecedented challenge to Putin's authority. After going on TV to condemn the perpetrators of what he called a coup as terrorists, a deal was struck to allow them to walk away and for precaution to move to Belarus. Rachel Armstrong is our Europe news editor. Rachel, what's the sense of how Putin's handled this? Putin, on the surface, to those observing from outside Russia, looks pretty weak. He has not been seen in public since the affair came to an end.

No one actually knows where Putin is. And he's had to have his neighbor get him out of this situation. So it does not look great for Putin? And so does the West believe this might have tarnished his authority? The line that a lot of Western politicians like Anthony Blinken on Sunday have been trying to give out is that this just shows how Russia is much more disunited than it likes to have its people believe. But exactly where this goes. We don't know. But what we do know is that we've seen real cracks emerge. And the risk of destabilizing forces inside the country still remain, despite the end of the

events on Saturday. So to your point, is this over or is this the start of some broader internal conflict? We don't know whether the noise that was kicked out by this mutiny over the past few days will resonate in the wider Russian armed forces. That will be what the Kremlin is really worried about, whether this had some resonance that echoes through the rest of the Russian military and causes further problems down the line. How might this internal drama affect the war in Ukraine? On the surface, this would undoubtedly look positive for Ukraine to have such a show of disarray inside Russia and one which is centered around the top of its military leadership. ship. However, I think a lot of people in Ukraine are cautioning that you shouldn't draw from

this conclusion that there's going to be a sudden breakthrough on the battlefield coming. What happens to Wagner now? What they say is going to happen to Wagner is that the troops that were serving for Wagner in Ukraine, they will be allowed to join the regular Russian military. We don't know yet whether they want to. The other point that isn't clear is what happens to Wagner's broader operations overseas in Africa and the Middle East where they have their own offices and infrastructure. Will those be able to continue? They had a very feared status overseas, but they were only able to operate because they had the backing and the blessing of the

Russian state. So what happens to those operations from now will also be very interesting to watch. Here's Carmel Crimmons now to tell us how markets are reacting to that weekend revolt in Russia. Are investors rattled? I think they're watching and waiting like everyone else. Oil is slightly higher and the ruble is lower, which is what you would expect. Russia is one of the largest producers of oil, so any instability could hurt supplies. And of course, uncertainty is bad for the economy and for the currency.

But beyond that, stock and stock futures are flat. The consequences of this weekend revolt are hard to gauge. So it's a factor that markets are watching rather than trading. Now to the other headlines making news around the world. Greece's Conservative New Democracy Party stormed to victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday. Supporters, Hong Kong's and jubilation outside the party's headquarters in Athens. New Democracy Party leader, Kereikos Mitsotakis,

will be sworn in as Prime Minister on Monday for another four-year term. He vowed to push ahead with reforms to rebuild the country's credit rating after a devastating debt crisis. Thousands of Starbucks workers are going on strike this week, saying the company banned Pride Month decorations at its stores. Starbucks denies the claims and says stores are being encouraged to celebrate pride, as long as safety guidelines are being followed. One person was killed and nine were injured, including children in a roller coaster accident

at an amusement park in Stockholm. Eyewitnesses said the roller coaster had partly derailed during a ride, sending people crashing to the ground. The US and Canada are both investigating the cause of the Titan submersible implosion. The coast guards of both countries will try to recover evidence, including from a salvage operation on the sea floor. On the one-year anniversary marking the end of Roe v. Wade, activists on both sides of the issue hold dueling rallies around the US. Outside the Supreme Court, abortion rights campaigner and Dean Saylor was disappointed with the turnout. If we don't show up and if we don't participate, we get what we get and what we get is our rights taken away. Former Vice President and current Republican presidential contender Mike Pence celebrated the end of row at an anti-abortion rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

Because of your work and because of your prayers, the Supreme Court of the United States, sent Roe versus Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs. His former boss and frontrunner in the Republican primary took a more concrete stance than he previously has during the campaign. Of course, remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. Former President Donald Trump said the federal government should be involved in regulating late-term abortions,

but declined to provide specifics on what that role was. Compared to his Republican presidential rivals, Trump has been relatively quiet on the issue of abortion, which is likely to play a central role in the 2024 election. A recent Reuters Ipsos poll found that 56% of respondents said they'd be less likely to vote for a politician who supports legislation limiting access to abortion. That's it for this edition of Reuters World News.

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