WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 align:middle line:84% NINA KHRUSHCHEVA: Well, today is interesting because it 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:03.480 align:middle line:90% seems like nothing happened. 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:05.580 align:middle line:90% You know, the weekend is gone. 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:06.420 align:middle line:90% That's it. 00:00:06.420 --> 00:00:09.100 align:middle line:84% You had some blip on the horizon. 00:00:09.100 --> 00:00:11.670 align:middle line:84% I'm looking at my courtyard here in Moscow, 00:00:11.670 --> 00:00:13.500 align:middle line:84% and there were five cars, I think, 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:18.720 align:middle line:84% left out of 70 on Saturday because we now know that people 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:21.960 align:middle line:90% were, in fact, some Putin's-- 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:25.830 align:middle line:84% Putin's entourage were supposedly flying 00:00:25.830 --> 00:00:28.020 align:middle line:90% out of Russia just in case. 00:00:28.020 --> 00:00:30.840 align:middle line:84% So people left for the countryside. 00:00:30.840 --> 00:00:33.130 align:middle line:90% And now most cars have returned. 00:00:33.130 --> 00:00:35.790 align:middle line:84% So it kind of feels that, oh, it just happened. 00:00:35.790 --> 00:00:38.350 align:middle line:84% But crisis in Russia is nothing new. 00:00:38.350 --> 00:00:43.170 align:middle line:84% But the big question, especially today, is that, where is Putin? 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:46.620 align:middle line:84% I mean, you know, Prigozhin supposedly-- 00:00:46.620 --> 00:00:53.550 align:middle line:84% supposedly was spotted in some high-rise hotel in Minsk. 00:00:53.550 --> 00:00:56.100 align:middle line:84% And the joke is-- and maybe it's not a joke-- 00:00:56.100 --> 00:00:59.130 align:middle line:84% that it has bolted windows because it has been 00:00:59.130 --> 00:01:00.810 align:middle line:84% known that Putin's enemies have been 00:01:00.810 --> 00:01:02.190 align:middle line:90% falling out of the windows. 00:01:02.190 --> 00:01:05.069 align:middle line:84% So the windows are, just in case, bolted. 00:01:05.069 --> 00:01:07.090 align:middle line:90% But Putin is a bigger question. 00:01:07.090 --> 00:01:08.520 align:middle line:90% I mean, they showed this-- 00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:13.560 align:middle line:84% his video meeting with some young people. 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.050 align:middle line:84% But something that I've argued, I 00:01:16.050 --> 00:01:17.730 align:middle line:84% think, maybe even on your program 00:01:17.730 --> 00:01:20.460 align:middle line:84% earlier, that if Putin survives this, 00:01:20.460 --> 00:01:23.520 align:middle line:84% he actually would get some sort of a boost. 00:01:23.520 --> 00:01:26.130 align:middle line:84% And he could have because he survived this. 00:01:26.130 --> 00:01:28.410 align:middle line:90% Unfortunately, he hasn't spoken. 00:01:28.410 --> 00:01:33.060 align:middle line:84% Unfortunately, he allows his TV very 00:01:33.060 --> 00:01:35.100 align:middle line:84% active but not entirely convincing 00:01:35.100 --> 00:01:36.990 align:middle line:90% propagandists to speak for him. 00:01:36.990 --> 00:01:40.980 align:middle line:84% It could have been a great PR moment that at 10 o'clock 00:01:40.980 --> 00:01:43.200 align:middle line:90% on Saturday, all resolved. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.400 align:middle line:90% Lukashenko speaks. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.080 align:middle line:90% Prigozhin says something. 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:48.250 align:middle line:84% And then Putin comes out and says, 00:01:48.250 --> 00:01:50.280 align:middle line:84% well, it's all resolved for the benefit of the people. 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:51.720 align:middle line:90% Yes, it was mutiny. 00:01:51.720 --> 00:01:52.560 align:middle line:90% It was treason. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.750 align:middle line:84% But I, the great leader of Russia, 00:01:54.750 --> 00:01:57.090 align:middle line:84% thought that it would be better, and we are going 00:01:57.090 --> 00:01:58.410 align:middle line:90% to figure out another way. 00:01:58.410 --> 00:02:00.480 align:middle line:84% That he could have shown strength. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:02.910 align:middle line:84% The problem with Putin is that he 00:02:02.910 --> 00:02:06.780 align:middle line:84% thinks that explanation or even negotiation 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:07.860 align:middle line:90% is a sign of weakness. 00:02:07.860 --> 00:02:10.350 align:middle line:84% And this-- that victory he turned 00:02:10.350 --> 00:02:12.220 align:middle line:90% into more weakness for him. 00:02:12.220 --> 00:02:13.020 align:middle line:90% CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: OK. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:14.790 align:middle line:90% So what does-- 00:02:14.790 --> 00:02:17.850 align:middle line:84% Nina, what does more weakness look 00:02:17.850 --> 00:02:20.340 align:middle line:84% like if he hasn't grabbed this moment? 00:02:20.340 --> 00:02:24.000 align:middle line:84% And truly, people are stunned by it, those who are 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.550 align:middle line:90% Kremlinologists and the rest. 00:02:26.550 --> 00:02:28.620 align:middle line:84% What does more weakness look like then? 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:32.850 align:middle line:84% What might he-- process might he have set in motion by not 00:02:32.850 --> 00:02:35.970 align:middle line:90% coming out and seizing the day? 00:02:35.970 --> 00:02:38.070 align:middle line:84% NINA KHRUSHCHEVA: Well, I don't think it's that unusual for him 00:02:38.070 --> 00:02:41.160 align:middle line:84% because he does think that explaining and speaking 00:02:41.160 --> 00:02:44.540 align:middle line:84% to the people is something that all those others little people 00:02:44.540 --> 00:02:45.340 align:middle line:90% do. 00:02:45.340 --> 00:02:48.000 align:middle line:84% But he himself-- just, you know, whatever he decides 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:49.000 align:middle line:90% is good enough. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.510 align:middle line:84% And when people talk about his tarnished 00:02:51.510 --> 00:02:53.160 align:middle line:90% reputation, which reputation? 00:02:53.160 --> 00:02:57.570 align:middle line:84% He's sitting at this giant table of five meters 00:02:57.570 --> 00:03:01.590 align:middle line:84% long across with all sorts of leaders 00:03:01.590 --> 00:03:05.220 align:middle line:84% and doesn't even blink at how ridiculous that looks. 00:03:05.220 --> 00:03:08.030 align:middle line:84% So-- but the question especially on the afternoon has been-- 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:09.960 align:middle line:84% and people have been calling me like, is he dead? 00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:11.080 align:middle line:90% What's happening? 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:12.960 align:middle line:90% Why is he not showing up? 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:14.880 align:middle line:84% I mean, what we know of Putin's history 00:03:14.880 --> 00:03:18.030 align:middle line:84% is that he shows up when he wants to show up. 00:03:18.030 --> 00:03:20.610 align:middle line:84% It doesn't mean that something dangerous has happened to him. 00:03:20.610 --> 00:03:22.110 align:middle line:84% Although, of course, we are guessing. 00:03:22.110 --> 00:03:23.820 align:middle line:90% And he likes people to guess. 00:03:23.820 --> 00:03:28.470 align:middle line:84% The problem with this kind of mode of operandi which before 00:03:28.470 --> 00:03:31.860 align:middle line:84% added to his mystique, now it just shows like, what, you 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:33.060 align:middle line:90% don't know what you're doing? 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:35.640 align:middle line:84% They will just go against you, and now you're pretending 00:03:35.640 --> 00:03:36.990 align:middle line:90% that nothing happened? 00:03:36.990 --> 00:03:38.190 align:middle line:90% That shows weakness. 00:03:38.190 --> 00:03:39.960 align:middle line:90% And that's why it seems-- 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:42.010 align:middle line:84% I mean, because the question you asked earlier, 00:03:42.010 --> 00:03:43.620 align:middle line:84% whether Prigozhin was alone or not, 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:45.030 align:middle line:90% of course he was not alone. 00:03:45.030 --> 00:03:48.150 align:middle line:84% But he did think that other people in the military, 00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:51.780 align:middle line:84% he would have more people on his side. 00:03:51.780 --> 00:03:55.950 align:middle line:84% He will bring up more interest to his cause. 00:03:55.950 --> 00:03:57.990 align:middle line:84% And by the way, those who were cheering him up, 00:03:57.990 --> 00:04:01.680 align:middle line:84% they were not cheering him up to add to his cause. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:04.237 align:middle line:84% They were not cheering him up to join him. 00:04:04.237 --> 00:04:05.670 align:middle line:84% They were cheering him up because it seemed 00:04:05.670 --> 00:04:08.160 align:middle line:84% like a total absurd circus, people 00:04:08.160 --> 00:04:11.630 align:middle line:84% on tanks, the heroes of Russia fighting against other heroes 00:04:11.630 --> 00:04:12.430 align:middle line:90% of Russia. 00:04:12.430 --> 00:04:16.800 align:middle line:84% So that just basically what shows is that Putin may think 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:18.610 align:middle line:90% he's in control, but he's not. 00:04:18.610 --> 00:04:21.029 align:middle line:84% And so for those around him, that's 00:04:21.029 --> 00:04:27.090 align:middle line:84% a good lesson to see how they can maybe form certain groups 00:04:27.090 --> 00:04:30.990 align:middle line:84% not as evident as Prigozhin's but certain groups 00:04:30.990 --> 00:04:34.920 align:middle line:84% to may weaken Putin's power even more because he's certainly 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:37.330 align:middle line:90% not popular among the elites. 00:04:37.330 --> 00:04:39.200 align:middle line:90% That's for sure.