(soft tense music) (buzzes hiss and trill) - [Narrator] The 23rd of June, 2023. The Russo-Ukrainian War rages on. Soldiers on both sides continue to do battle by land, sea, and air, (people chatter) with many paying the ultimate price. (people shout indistinctly)
(gunshots blast) (aircraft roars) (booms echo in distance) And yet, in an unexpected turn of events, private military company the Wagner Group withdraws its troops from the conflict and heads towards the Russian border. Mercenary leader
Yevgeny
Prigozhin orders his men to seize Russia's southern
city of Rostov-on-Don, the opening salvo of a
mutiny against the Kremlin. (Vladimir speaks in Russian)
(static hisses and buzzes) Prigozhin's move sparks rumors of an armed rebellion across
Russia, and in no time at all, the Wagner Group march on Moscow to face the most powerful man in Europe. (tense music builds) What happens next could change the course of the world forever. (tense brooding music) (electronic beeps trill) (dramatic m
usic) - A Russian private army leader called for an armed rebellion against the Kremlin. (sirens wail) (camera clicks) - [Reporter] It has been
a dramatic escalation in tensions between Russia's military and the Wagner mercenary group, raising fears it could lead
to a civil war in Russia. - Putin understands power very, very well. I would say he understands power better than almost any other world leader, and he has done for a long time. - The ultimate goal of a
dictator is to gain power, and th
en, once you've got power, the goal of the dictator
becomes to keep that power. (static hisses) (people shout indistinctly) Problem is, with dictatorships, there's no way in which the
country can change direction without either a palace
coup or an assassination or, of course, the dictator dying. (Vladimir speaks in Russian)
(dramatic music continues) (people shout indistinctly) (pops echo) - It's like a turf war among mafia bosses. Of course, one of the
key issues in any kind of mafia situation
is to keep the peace. You don't want anybody to rock the boat, and that was Prigozhin's
mistake, that he rocked the boat. (dramatic suspenseful music) (static hisses and buzzes) (crowd chants) (soft tense music) - [Narrator] Russia's political system of the last 100 years has
always been focused on power, power over people, power over land, power over western enemies. (film reel clicks and whirs) (crowd chants) For the majority of the 20th century, the Soviet Union stood as one of the two major
global forces. The USSR's empire covered
11 of the world's time zones and extended more than 6,800 miles from east to west during
the Cold War years. (slides click) By the late 1980s, Russian autocracy became
increasingly unpopular with citizens all over the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev's time as leader ushered in two major policies,
perestroika and glasnost. Perestroika allowed the Soviet people to vote in democratic elections and also encouraged more economic freedom. In turn, glasnost was
taken
to mean increased openness from the Soviet government. (reporter speaks in Russian)
(tense brooding music) The handling of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster completely undermined
Gorbachev's drive for transparency. The Soviet government tried to hide the nuclear
disaster from the people and downplay the health
effects from radiation. - That they have provided as full and prompt information as they should have. Our own pictures give us information that suggests the casualty rates are higher than
those that have been announced by the Soviet Union so
far by a good measure. (helicopter blades whir) (sirens wail) - [Narrator] The disaster exposed the government's
deep levels of corruption. Citizens in Soviet states could no longer ignore the
callousness of their leaders. - As a matter of fact, we know next to nothing
about what has happened. I have been advised to wash ourselves and our children hair, to change clothes. (person speaks in Russian) (crowd chants and whistles) - [Narrator] In
the years which followed, growing anti-communist sentiment unleashed a mass protest
movement against the authorities. Political revolution in Poland sparked other
Eastern European states to rise up against their oppressors. In 1989, the people's anger
reached East Germany, and Europe's most famous symbol of division finally collapsed. (sledgehammer slams) (rocks shatter) - East German troops took control of the key section of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate early this morning. They stopp
ed the party, but any hopes they had of
stopping the West Berliners destroying the wall were soon dashed. As dozens of young men
pulled on a rope and chains, the chant went up,
(speaks in foreign language) "done with the wall." (people shout indistinctly) The reply was swift. This is the wall the East
Germans themselves built, and they don't like to see it
broken down from the west. Water cannon were drawn up, but the West Berliners were determined. - I think the people here
in Western Germany l
ive with the wall since 1961, and I think now it's time to
break the wall down, you know? (people shout indistinctly)
(sledgehammer slams) - [Reporter] The wall was crumbling, the sledgehammers in the hands of men not born when it went up. From the wall and from behind it, the East Germans tried to stop the tide. One West Berliner sprayed champagne back. (audience cheers and applauds) Another urged the border
guards, "Come over, come over." Then just before 10 o'clock, the moment Berliners
have
waited 28 years for. (people cheer) Even the East Germans seemed exhilarated, a symbolic breach in the
structure that separated millions and claimed hundreds of lives. (people chant) West German riot police
stopped the crowd surging onto communist soil, but by
then, they'd made their point. The East Germans closed the wall, but the whole section at the
Brandenburg Gate had cracked, and the momentum had begun. (sirens wail) (traffic rumbles) - [Narrator] At the
fall of the Berlin Wall, Putin felt
he was
watching one of the largest and most powerful empires
the world has ever seen unravel in the most pathetic and humiliating way. (soft dramatic music) The Soviet Union as a
whole dissolved by 1991, and Russia quickly found
itself losing relevance. (static hisses) - Russia has has got this
thing about being a great power. This dates back, you know,
to the end of the Cold War, and it's quite hard, I
think, for lots of people in the West to understand
how humiliating that loss for Russia was
. And ever since then, I think, you know, he has feared the people who beat him, and he has wanted to get back
some sense of Russian pride. (soft dramatic music continues) - [Narrator] Putin soon
began to harbor his frustration to pursue a career in politics. Over the next decade, he rose from a mid-ranking
cog on the periphery of the KGB to become the deputy
mayor of St. Petersburg. - After the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union in 1991, he gets a job with the new
democratically elected
mayor in St. Petersburg, and really, the speculation is that the reason that Sobchak gives him a
job is that he wants somebody who has KGB connections
as his kind of tough guy, as his guy who can
actually be the link person with the security services and the link person with organized crime. - He basically becomes his bag carrier, but what he's doing is he's
forging connections by people, you know, in industry,
in politics, you know, all around St. Petersburg. Putin is the indispensable gray man
. You know, he's not, you
know, making speeches. He's not being a politician. He's simply being a functionary.
He's being a bureaucrat. But what Putin knows
and what people often know is it the people at the nexus of power. It's people in the margin. It's people, you know, at
the meeting points of power are the people who actually gain the power because they're the people who knows, you know, what different people want, and they can manage those relationships. And suddenly, Putin
finds himself,
you know, at the heart of powers of St. Petersburg. He finds himself enriching himself 'cause everything is corrupt. So that is a key part
of the Putin narrative. That relationship is subject. (soft dramatic music continues) (slide clicks) (slide clicks) - [Narrator] In 1996, Putin's
call to Moscow finally came. President Boris Yeltsin
made Putin his deputy chief of presidential staff and then, two years later, the director of the FSB, the successor security
organization to the KGB. - Russia in
the 1990s under Boris Yeltsin was certainly a very chaotic environment. Yeltsin and his government have been trying to create a market economy. Rather than creating a market economy, what they've done is that
they've transferred ownership in the most important bits
of the Russian economy to a small number of individuals
who've become mega rich. - In Russia at that time,
there was no rule of law. If you had a dispute with someone, you sorted it out with
violence because, you know, you couldn't ha
ve a business dispute and take it to the court. There were no courts. There was a ton of money floating around, and the money was getting bigger, you know, especially because with
the economic reforms, the exchange rates on
the international market, the disparity was so huge. You know, you could buy a
barrel of oil for next to nothing in rubles and sell it
for a fortune in dollars. They called it the Wild East. (soft dramatic music continues) (audience applauds) The memories of that time really
die hard for lots of Russians, and
actually, for a lot of Russians, giving them the choice
between authoritarianism and the anarchy of
the (speaks indistinctly), they'll take authoritarianism. They'll say, you know, "We
don't want that anymore." You know, freedom is a
pretty nebulous concept when there's anarchy around. - [Narrator] Putin's loyalty and strength during this period captured Yeltsin's eye. The president appointed
Putin prime minister of the Russian Federation in
August 1999 and lat
er announced that he wanted to see him as his successor. (people chatter indistinctly) (phone rings) (soft tense music) - This this is really
important because Yeltsin is looking for the right successor. Yeltsin is very anxious
about leaving office because, if he leaves office,
he's very worried that people will want to get revenge for
various things that happened. What Yeltsin wants is
a peaceful retirement, and, in order to get a peaceful retirement, he needs to hand over power
to somebody who
he trusts. - As of now, Putin's rating is zero. He was never regarded in a
serious presidential contender, and I don't think that Yeltsin's approval would add much to that zero. (static hisses and buzzes)
(announcer speaks in Russian) - [Narrator] Putin had seen close up how weak the new Russia had become. It soon became clear
that his presidential style was going to be very different
to that of his predecessor. (person speaks in Russian) On taking over the reins, he constructed himself as
a no
-nonsense tough guy and the true hero of modern Russia. Misinformation, corruption,
and the elimination of opponents became
the basis of Putin's power. - He wants to absolutely
control the agenda. It's said that his predecessor,
President Boris Yeltsin, the only thing that he
had on his desk was a pen, which he used to sign presidential decrees. And when Putin takes over from Yeltsin, the pen gets replaced by a remote control because he's so obsessed
with his image on television, and various peo
ple who met him early in his presidency say sometimes
he used to stop the meetings to turn on the news to see
how he's being reported. - You hold onto power as a dictator by getting increasingly ruthless. You also hold onto power by making sure that you control the message. You gotta keep lying.
Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. So you've gotta keep
your people in the dark, and that's how you keep power. - If we go back to the
Soviet Union, really, propaganda is the
attempt to persuade people that realit
y is something other than it is. (patriotic music plays faintly) - Soviet propaganda was constantly saying how life is much better
in the Soviet Union, how people are starving
in the outside world. The West is corrupt,
and there's no truth to it, but say it enough and
force people to repeat it. But Putin era propaganda is very different. It's no longer trying to
convince people of an ideology. It's no longer trying to convince people that communism is the best kind of system. Actually, Putin's p
ropaganda isn't trying to convince people of anything. It's just trying to confuse. What Putin wants is for
people not to know what's real. (dramatic music) (slide clicks) - [Narrator] Vladimir Putin's intentions to restore Russia's
greatness have not faltered. His thirst for control goes
hand in hand with his desire for Russian influence
to spread far and wide. The president remains intent on not letting history repeat itself. (dark brooding music) (static hisses) President Putin is notorious
f
or keeping a tight circle. He values loyalty above all
else, and, in the early 2000s, he placed his faith in the entrepreneur and former criminal Yevgeny Prigozhin. (film reel clicks off) Between the late 70s until the early 90s, gang member Prigozhin spent nine years in prison for robbery, theft, and fraud. Authorities even sent him to
a high security penal colony, isolated from the general population. (dark brooding music continues) The Supreme Court of the
Soviet Union released him early for
corrective behavior, but, years later, he would use his thuggish past to convince prisoners
to join the Wagner Group. (slow dramatic music)
(film reel clicks and whirs) Upon his release, Prigozhin followed the
entrepreneurial spirit of the 1990s and opened grocery, restaurant,
and gambling businesses. He gained the status of
oligarch over the next decade and quickly reached high places, often seeking the ears
of the influential politicians and the wealthy. In the early 2000s, he
personally serve
d food to Vladimir Putin, French
president Jacques Chirac, and even George W. Bush. With these events, Prigozhin grew closer and
closer to the Russian leader. He became known as Putin's chef. Prigozhin used profits
from his catering business to found the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company which engaged in online propaganda
and influence operations, including the setup of troll accounts across major social media platforms. The West even accused the agency of interfering in the 2016 US el
ections. - I've never said I'm a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. We will double our growth
and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world. At the same time, we will
get along with all other nations willing to get along with us. (audience cheers and applauds) - [Narrator] His illegal
business and political practices made Yevgeny Prigozhin one of the most corrupt people in the world. (static hisses) (tense brooding music) - Our three countries
stand shoulder to shoul
der against Russia's barbaric invasion. - We're standing up for democracy against authoritarianism
and standing with Ukraine. - War and violence, once again, cast a dark shadow over Europe. We are working together. (boom echoes) - [Narrator] Vladimir Putin's obsession with holding back NATO and
expanding Russian influence has led to one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II. The outbreak of the
Ukraine war in February 2022 is the most defining moment
of Putin's presidency so far. - His p
roblem with NATO is that he thinks that NATO is an aggressive power and whereas NATO regarded
itself as a defensive power. And so, you know, this
is why he has this sort of fundamental issue with
former Soviet republics turning to NATO, turning to the West, 'cause he sees it as the world against him. I think another really important
hallmark of any dictator is that they become increasingly paranoid. They think the world's against them, and then they act in that
way, and then, of course, ultimate
ly, the world then
does have to turn against them. (camera click) (people
chatter indistinctly) - [Narrator] Russia's drive to eliminate the Ukrainian
people continues, and it is no secret that Russian
forces commit war crimes on a daily basis. - The longer the war in Ukraine goes on, the more it's gonna get like Chechnya, the more cities in Ukraine
are gonna look like Aleppo in Syria are no longer existent. - I mean, this is the thing
no one really knows why now as he could've done it at
any ti
me in the last eight years, you know, the invasion of
Crimea and Donbas in 2014. This is the thing that the
conflict has been going on in Ukraine for years now. As to why he's done it now, I mean, he did it obviously in the winter because it's technically
easier to go over frozen ground than it would be in the summer, although not that you'd necessarily know it by the losses the Russian army have taken. There's lots of speculation
about the state of his health. (soft dramatic music)
(person spea
ks in Russian) There aren't, you know,
personal reasons for doing it. Again, no one really knows, and it's very tempting for people to look at pictures of his puffy face and go, "Oh, he must, you know, have
terminal cancer or whatever." (scoffs) Who knows? You know, it's tempting to
think of him as, you know, this sort of mix of Howard
Hughes and Hitler in downfall, sort of pacing vast Black Sea mansions, isolated, paranoid about COVID. I think it's all of a piece
with his worldview. - Putin def
ines his success strength, anything that's revealed him to be strong, anything that's made
his opponent look weak. So, you know, when he
goes into these other countries and they do nothing, like
going to Crimea in 2014, and stealing that off Ukraine,
that was a huge success. You know, he's a gambler. He's reckless. He's like a person who
drives through a red light at 100 miles an hour, and
if he hasn't had a crash, he says that's been a successful maneuver. Well, you know, most people regard tha
t as not a particularly
successful thing to have done. You know, you've almost killed yourself and other people doing it, but that's fine. - [Narrator] Evidence
suggests that the Wagner Group has been used as a proxy
by the Russian government, allowing it to hide the true casualties of Russia's foreign interventions
and deny any wrongdoings. (blast booms) (blast booms) (fire hose creaks) (flames roar) (wind blows) Prigozhin initially denied
any links to the Wagner Group, even suing journalists f
or linking his name to the private military company. However, a few months
into the Russo-Ukrainian war, Prigozhin finally claimed
to have founded the group and described the battalion as patriots. The Wagner Group has since become one of the world's most feared
mercenary companies. Many of the so-called
patriots express Neo-Nazi and far-right extremist views and even come from criminal backgrounds. (tense booming music) (static hisses) (flames crackle) Dead brother. (people chatter indistinctly
) (footsteps crunch) (slow dramatic music)
(people speak indistinctly) (tank rumbles) (gunshots blast) The Ministry of Defense
used the Wagner Group as the main assault force
in the Battle of Bakhmut, the longest and bloodiest
battle of the conflict so far. (rocket roars) (debris clatters) (explosion booms) (explosive whistles and explodes) The Ukrainian government and the West have accused the Wagner operatives of some of the most violent war crimes, including murder, torture,
rape, and robbery
of civilians. (person speaks in Russian) (static hisses and buzzes) On the 23rd of June, 2023,
Ukraine watched closely as its Russian neighbors
plunged into turmoil. - Security is being heightened in Moscow after the leader of a
Russian parliamentary group has turned on his country's
own defense ministry. The Wagner Group has been one of the most violent Russian
forces fighting in Ukraine, but now its leader is accused of mutiny. - [Narrator] For months, Prigozhin had been lambasting
Russia's h
igh command for mishandling the Ukraine war and repeatedly accused
the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, of incompetence. - Shoigu! (speaks in Russian) (beep) (beeps) - [Narrator] Earlier in June, the Kremlin demanded all
Russian mercenaries sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, a move seen as an
attempt to control Wagner, but Prigozhin remained defiant. He refused to comply and voiced increasingly vitriolic tirades against the Russian military hierarchy. The Wagner chief had no
choice but to
lead a march for justice against Russia's leaders. (dark brooding music) (static hisses) (dark brooding music) (Vladimir speaks in Russian) (siren wails) - [Narrator] The Russian government and media corporations
appeal to Wagner fighters to abandon their leader, describing the march
as a criminal adventure. However, by the 24th of June, Prigozhin's 25,000-strong force had crossed the Russian
border and captured the city of Rostov-on-Don
without firing a single shot. (truck rumbles) (sirens bla
re) (people speak indistinctly) (siren blares) (tank rumbles) - This is the first
direct serious challenge to Putin's authority in 24
years of being the president. (people speak indistinctly) First of all, Prigozhin is
no knight in shining armor. He is a thug, to put it
lightly, and, frankly, a killer. (camera clicks) - [Narrator] The governor of
the region ordered residents to remain calm and stay indoors as Wagner forces took
control of Army headquarters, but the locals did otherwise. Many hea
ded out onto the
street in support of the rebellion. In that moment, the Wagner
Group were regarded as heroes. (people shout indistinctly) (audience cheers and applauds) (police sirens buzz)
(people chatter indistinctly) In the biggest threat to
Putin's presidency yet, Wagner troops began to march on Moscow. The Ministry of Defense
heightened security on the streets, and military helicopters opened fire on rebel mercenaries already more than halfway to the capital. Yevgeny Prigozhin soon became
Russia's most wanted man, and the world watched on as Putin raged from inside the Kremlin. (static hisses and buzzes) (tense music) - A Russian private army leader called for an armed rebellion against the Kremlin, but he is now telling
the troops to stand down. - [Narrator] Vladimir Putin
does not give in easily. He's known for having a tight grip on his country and his people. (static hisses) (people speak indistinctly) (people shout indistinctly) - There is one element dictators fear more tha
n anything else, and that is the people they rule over. The ultimate way to get rid of a dictator is to have a revolution
from the grassroots, from the streets, from the
fields, from the factories, a revolution to actually topple a dictator. It is so hard for a
dictator to stay in power if everybody in that country
wants to get rid of him. (tank rumbles) - If you've got rulers that you don't like and you can't get rid of
them through elections, then your only alternative is mass protest, you kno
w, revolution,
but it's very difficult to start a revolution in a police state. It's far too risky. It's far
too personally dangerous. It's not just personally dangerous. If you're a political
opposition in a police state, that's a danger to everyone you know. It's a danger to your friends.
It's a danger to your family. (soft tense music)
(people speak indistinctly) - [Narrator] The world's
most notorious dictator slipped out of the trap once again, employing Belarusian
president Alexander Lukas
henko to negotiate with the Wagner chief and offer security guarantees. (people shout indistinctly) By late afternoon of the 24th of June, Prigozhin ordered his men to stand down, stating that he wanted to avoid bloodshed, (people cheer) a move which angered
the Ukrainian government and disillusioned the rest of the world. (people shout indistinctly) - It's like a turf war among mafia bosses. Of course, one of the
key issues in any kind of mafia situation is to keep the peace. You don't want any
body to rock the boat, and that was Prigozhin's
mistake, that he rocked the boat, and that got the whole thing unsettled. And this is where we are now, and this is where the
situation at the moment, while we are sitting here, while the news are going on somewhere else, is actually very volatile
because we don't know whose loyalty falls where. - [Narrator] Putin's chef
had abandoned the fight, but would he slip into the shadows quietly? (dark brooding music) The dust settled on the rebellion. The
Kremlin announced that
Prigozhin would be extradited to Belarus with the word of Putin that he would not face charges for treason. (helicopter blades whir)
(Sergei speaks in Russian) - [Narrator] However, after
Prigozhin left Rostov-on-Don, many people could not
track his whereabouts. His location became unknown. Prigozhin's patriots returned to base. The Kremlin forced the mercenaries to sign contracts with
the Ministry of Defense, finally absorbing the troops
into the Russian military. The Wa
gner group's power had well and truly been stamped out. (dark unsettling music) In the following weeks, the former Wagner chief's
whereabouts remained murky. People reported sightings
of Prigozhin in St. Petersburg, Belarus, and even at a
Russia Africa summit hosted by President Putin. However, if there's one
thing Putin hates, it's betrayal. (Vladimir speaks in Russian) (audience cheers and applauds) He keeps his inner circle
tight and creates an atmosphere of fear to ensure his followers stay
loyal. Rumors swirled worldwide
that the Russian president had ordered Prigozhin's execution, a fate which many
traitors have faced before. - There's no doubt that it's
very hard to protest anymore, you know, on the streets
of any Russian town or city. You know, the police are very heavy handed. You know, we see even
elderly people being, you know, forcibly detained, bundled
into the backs of vans. We get people being beaten up. Of course, you know, political opponents and those who've been agai
nst Putin had been murdered or
had attempts against them. You look at Navalny, one of the most sort of
celebrated opponents of Putin, you know, poisoned, almost killed. So yeah, violence is a key part of Putin, you know, wielding political control. - [Narrator] Over the last 20 years, a spate of unusual
killings have taken place in Russia and the UK. Journalist and Putin
critic Anna Politkovskaya was found dead in the elevator
of her Moscow apartment block on the 7th of October, 2006. (people ch
atter indistinctly)
(soft tense music) Five men were eventually
sentenced for the killing, but whispers of the Kremlin's involvement spread far and wide. (cameras click) - Again, call upon the Russian
government to bring justice to those responsible
for ordering, planning, and executing Ms. Politkovskaya's murder. Like many other journalists reporting on the North Caucasus
over the past two decades, Ms. Politkovskaya was killed
in retaliation for her efforts to uncover corruption, abuse,
and vio
lation of human rights. - [Narrator] Her death became known as the murder that killed the
free press in Putin's Russia. Two months later, the former FSB officer and Russian defector Alexander
Litvinenko suddenly fell ill. Litvinenko had been
poisoned with polonium-210 whilst meeting two former agents, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrey
Lugovoy, in Mayfair, London. - The poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent in London. Litvinenko has poison put in his tea, dies of radiation poisoning. Absol
utely inconceivable
that that wasn't done without the direct orders of Putin. - The conclusion that the Russian state was probably involved in the murder of Mr. Litvinenko is deeply disturbing. It goes without saying
that this was a blatant and unacceptable breach of
the most fundamental tenets of international law
and of civilized behavior. - [Reporter] Exactly a year
after she lost her husband in agonizing circumstances, Marina Litvinenko joined supporters for a symbolic reading out of the sta
tement Alexander
Litvinenko produced from his deathbed. - "You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howl of protest
from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life." (deep boom resonates) (person speaks in Russian) (plane roars) (slow dramatic music) - [Reporter] Yevgeny Prigozhin has died after a business jet he was on crashed about 100 miles northwest of Moscow. - [Narrator] The events of
Yevgeny Prigozhin's death made front page news across the w
orld. Seven passengers and three crew were on the private jet flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, including the Wagner military
commander Dmitry Utkin. - Most likely will be presented as a, officially presented as
a friendly fire incident or something like that. It will never be officially
confirmed that Prigozhin or his air jet was specifically targeted. Of course not, but we know when Putin
intends to send a message. - [Narrator] Tabloids in
Britain termed the death as Putin's revenge, and t
heories on the
Wagner chief's demise started to spill out everywhere. The West mainly believes
that Putin had Prigozhin and his associates killed. A preliminary US intelligence
assessment concluded that an intentional explosion
caused the plane crash. - I'll say right up front, first of all, our initial assessment is that it's likely Prigozhin was killed. We're continuing to assess the situation. (slow dramatic music continues) - [Narrator] British security
sources viewed the death as completely
unsurprising
and determined the FSB most likely targeted
the Wagner chief's plane. The Kremlin once again denied
all involvement in the crash. Russian officials strongly
refuted the West's theories about Putin ordering the execution and remained dismissive of criticism. (people chatter indistinctly) The Wagner Group and
its supporters continue to mourn their leader. Memorials have cropped up in
cities and towns across Russia. Some believe their chief is still alive and plotting another
rebellio
n, but for many others, Yevgeny Prigozhin has become a martyr. (traffic whooshes) (static hisses and buzzes)
(eerie unsettling music) Prigozhin's 24 hours of chaos
shook the Kremlin to its core. For a moment, it seemed like a man with no previous military experience could bring down a whole dictatorship, a fact Putin is surely embarrassed about. - Putin's Achilles heel
is his own ambition. I think he's overreached himself. I think that he's
attempting now to do things that actually he doesn't
ha
ve the manpower or material or ultimately the support to do it. I think that's his problem.
He's been in power for too long. That paranoiac, narcissistic mentality is now completely in control of him. He's no longer got that
perspective that he needs. - [Narrator] Prigozhin's subsequent death has exposed to the world
that corruption and violence are still rife in Russian politics. The tyranny of the
Soviet Union still bleeds into the country's foundations. - We see throughout
Putin's presidency
a sort of utter indifference to
the value of human life. If it's a choice between
human life and his power, he's always consistently chosen his power. - [Narrator] The Kremlin has
eliminated an immediate threat for now, but before
long, there will be others, and with President Putin
damaged and licking his wounds, it seems like the prime
time to topple his power. (dramatic pounding music) (dramatic pounding music continues)
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