i think that does create different lines of opportunity in russia for russians and others to take, but, again i think for us right now, we need to be focused on shaping how that russian decisions are being made, the same way they try to shape our decisions from the outside, but we need to shape that by victory in ukraine, and achieving as much as we can in our own security pulls right now. >> always good to remind folks of how russia has repeatedly tried to shape our decisions in our elections inside this country, molly, as always, i love talking to you, you good have you on this morning. >> great to see you. >> that is going to do it for me on the special edition of msnbc reports, i will see back here today to the four pm eastern right here on msnbc. please join me again, we have a lot more to talk about. my friend jonathan capehart continues our coverage right now. >> breaking news, russian

revolt retreat, an astonishing 24 hours in global history. russian president vladimir putin staves off the biggest threat ever to his quarter century leadership as his one-time ally yevgeny prigozhin abruptly calls off a rebellion as his -- marches closer to moscow. prigozhin has agreed to leave russia for belarus. the wagner insurrection revealed major cracks and put his armor at home, now the world watches to see how it will impact a 16-month war on ukraine. good morning, and welcome to a special edition of the sunday, show i'm jonathan -- katie phang who you normally see at this hour as the weekend off. we start with a sobering realization, we may truly never know how close the nuclear armed nation of russia came to a full blown civil war. the toughest test ever, putin's

presidency is over, for now after brokering a truce with belarus, wagner leader if ghani prigozhin, called off a just hours after his mercenaries took control of the military headquarters in south of russia. he gave the mercenaries a big show of support. new video in overnight shows locals taking to the streets to chant wagner, and waved goodbye as the rebels rolled out. all of this comes as we are learning this uprising was in the works for a while, the washington post reporting this morning, in mid june the u.s. by agency has picked up intelligence indicating prigozhin was planning on armed action against the russian defense establishment, and urgently informed the white house and other government agencies. that is according to several u.s. officials. nbc has not independently verified that reporting. we will go in-depth with former u.s. ambassador to russia

michael mcfaul in just a moment. but we begin our coverage with nbc news foreign correspondent kelly live in kyiv for us this morning. kelly, thank you for being here people in ukraine have been keeping an anxious eye on the event as they unfold in russia, what is the mood there now? >> well, jonathan, it is interesting as shifted back to a sense of reality, the reality that this will be for ukraine a long war, a long slog. yesterday, for quite a while, people were almost euphoric watching the developments along with the rest of the world, that we're playing out in russia, then once that deal was announced, late saturday, a deal for prigozhin and his troops to turn around to return to their field basis, according to plan in the words of prigozhin's audio messages today, the mood shifted, again and i think the reality is that in that the war would continue on as it has done for some 16

months now, and in fact in that announcement the kremlin announcing the deal that was brokered to call off this rebellion, the spokesperson also said that these events while tragic, they would not have any impact on russia's military operation here in ukraine. there were missiles files on ukraine overnight, at least one person, killed in the kherson region, because of those missiles, and yesterday, in fact the deputy defense minister here in ukraine said, offensive action was taken on all fronts, all at the same, time and some progress was made, so while all eyes were on russia yesterday, there was still quite a bit of activity on the battlefield, but jonathan, so many questions remain right now, questions about whether or not these wagner fighters who are so loyal to yevgeny prigozhin will actually return to the battlefield. will they sign up with the

russian military as the kremlin has offered, that they, do what happens to wagner forces worldwide? is you have goni prigozhin still their leader, are they still loyal to? him does not loyal to? shift it is a lot of those questions still up in the, air and another big question i think for people in ukraine, is what really is russia's next move? jonathan? >> kelly, thank you so much coming to you live from kyiv. joining me now is michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to the russian federation, and msnbc international affairs analyst. ambassador, thank you for being here this, morning what does it say about putin's leadership that it was belarusian president lukashenko who negotiated the deal with prigozhin? >> i think it is pretty embarrassing for vladimir putin that he had to rely on lukashenko, so many -- to do this deal, and more generally, i think it is pretty

embarrassing to putin all around, just hours before he did this, deal he went on national television and gave a very tough speech where he told the people of russia, i'm going to crush this rebellion, and these traders, then just hours later he cut this deal allowing this progression to go freely to belarus. so it is not a great look for vladimir putin, who always likes to look like a strong and in command. >> you know, we learn through -- a spokesperson that a criminal case against prigozhin will be closed, and as you just mentioned, he will remain in belarus, two, questions, one do you believe that prigozhin will actually exile himself to belarus? >> you may be there for a, time but i do not think he is going to retire, i would be very surprised by, that you just saw those people cheering for his soldiers in rostov, that was a very striking to me, and it will be very struggling to putin and kremlin officials,

because now there is a real opposition candidate who is not in jail, a real leader who is a populist nationalist leader, and i just can't imagine that prigozhin is just going to sit on the sidelines while he has this moment of glory. >> and, do you think vladimir putin can let this go? especially given as you pointed, out what he said in that televised speech yesterday? >> i honestly do not know. i was very surprised that he capitulated so fast, by the, way i think that there's a lot about our theories about how he is going to fight in ukraine, and whether he has an off ramp and all these arguments about the rat in the, corner he will never negotiate, well, yesterday he was a rat in the corner, and he didn't double, down he didn't escalate, he negotiated, and, he puts a very weak in terms of whether he is in charge of his own country, i

suspect he is going to be looking for a way to reassert himself, yesterday mr. prigozhin, and the wagner fighters, i just do not exactly know how. >> so as i mentioned earlier, the russian post is reporting that u.s. intelligence knew wagner was planning an insurrection, what does that say about russia's intelligence forces, and what they may have known? >> jonathan, that is a fantastic question, if our folks knew about it in mid june, you have to believe that russian intelligence knew about this ahead of time. and let's be clear, this operation was not some fly by night thing where he just decided intentionally to march to moscow, it looks like it was very well prepared, he then went into rostov, a major city in russia, within the resistance that, all and was marching, to moscow with little resistance, that suggests to me that putin had to have known about all of, this but did not feel like he had the capabilities to stop it

militarily. >> yes, ambassador, you wrote back in february, quote, putin's war in ukraine has also triggered deep damage to his own country, especially to russia's armed, forces the economy, society, and in the long run to his own regime,, ambassador prigozhin's mercenaries overtaking a military headquarters without firing a single bullet exposed putin's vulnerabilities to the world? >> without question. you know, this war in ukraine, it has undermined putin in many ways as i read about that article, this is just further evidence that he is losing ground, it is not consolidated, i mean you have two of his own militaries, let's remember prigozhin was created by putin, he is not some rogue opposition figure. this is putin's guy. yesterday, as we just talked about, we had their two biggest military forces on the verge of going to war with each other,

that is a very bad sign for vladimir putin, that shows he is not just weak internally but yes, i think it is a signal to the rest of the, world if you are president xi jinping watching this, right now you make a big bet to double, down to support for many years vladimir putin as a partner in your opposition to the west, now that looks very problematic for president xi jinping. i think all around the world, people have to be nervous that putin is not in control, and maybe now will put more pressure on him to end this war, because the longer the war goes on in ukraine, the weaker putin becomes that home. >> and, ambassador, i'm glad you brought up russia, you may have just answered this in your last answer, but i will ask this question anyway, does what happened over this weekend, over last 48 hours put pressure on chinese president xi to be more active, to get vladimir

putin to conclude in his war on ukraine? >> well i would hope so. if you listen to chinese officials, what they fear most is chaos and disillusion. the collapse of the soviet union for instance is a catastrophic event the chinese communist party officials, they do not want to see chaos on their borders, and i do not think the longer the war goes, the more probable that becomes. so i would hope that president xi would understand that wrapping up this war, putting pressure on his partner, is a trusted friend who he calls this friend, vladimir putin, would be a way to actually preserve putin in power, because if it goes on, longer you have just seen this might be something that would see play again and again, and as the war continues to drag on. >> it is instability, it was the word i was looking for. ambassador, one more question for you before after that you go, you were the former

ambassador to the russian federation, i am sure you were shocked by what happened, what are you looking for over the next 24 to 48 hours as we get beyond the rebellion? >> two big things, it has been alleged that as part of the deal, the minister of defense and the commander of the russian armed forces general -- will be let go. that has not been confirmed, but if that is, confirmed that is a further sign of weakness, that is real capitulation, and second, i want to know we'll prigozhin continue to be as active on his social media channels, especially telegram, as he has been before. if that is shut down, that suggests to me that putin is trying to muzzle him, and isolate him in belarus. >> former u.s. ambassador to the russian federation, michael, mcfaul thank you very much for coming to the sunday, show still to come on the special

edition of the sunday show, new details on what intelligence agencies knew about wagner group mercenaries have goni, prigozhin and when the, knew it and, later what if he abandoned rebellion means for putin's continued control of the russian military, keep it right here on msnbc. here on msnbc. en w hen we metamorphosize into our new evolved form, we carry that spirit with us. because you can take alfa romeo out of italy. but you best believe, you can't take the italy out of an alfa romeo. when it comes to your hair, ingredients matter. that's why herbal essences is packed with naturally derived plant ingredients you love, and none of the stuff you don't. our sulfate-free collections smell incredible...

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yevgeny prigozhin ordered his forces to halt their march on moscow, in return to their bases, we are learning that the criminal case against him is now closed, prigozhin has been exiled to belarus, leaving the will to question his motives for leading a rebellion against as one time ally vladimir putin. joining me now is admirable -- msnbc chief international security and diplomacy analyst former supreme allied commander at nato, and author of to risk it, all nine conflicts, and the crucible of decision. admirable -- welcome back to the sunday show, perfect person to talk about

all of this, thank you for coming back. prigozhin not really close to moscow, and very quickly. then, just turned around and ended his rebellion. it was history added? she or did his rebellion backfire? >> i'm very dubious there was a great deal of strategy involved here. it all feels very game of thrones to me. and, one thing that you learn watching that serious, if you try to kill the king, and you fail, you are subject to the king. and, i think, you have ghani prigozhin is in for a precarious future, he is going to be in belarus, that is a long way away, 25 to 35,000 troops in command, he is under vladimir putin, and lukashenko, and, yeah, there is a deal on the table, but frankly, if i were prigozhin, i would not be standing close to any open

windows on third floors in apartment buildings, or drinking cups of tea that i didn't know the source of. i think he is in for a bit of a bumpy ride going forward. my final thought, here you, know when you try and kill the king, you better succeed, or you incur an enormous amount of personal risk. >> in the washington post today, there is reporting that u.s. intelligence officials knew for a couple weeks that prigozhin was planning this rebellion, this insurrection, what does it mean that russian intelligence, or does it mean that russian intelligence also knew one, also knew about, this and two, what does it say if u.s. intelligence knew this, what does it mean about putin's control over his own military? >> clearly, the second point is really the --

which, is it shows putin has done the worst thing a leader can do, which is isolate him or herself from their followers. once you do that, and think of those pictures of putin sitting at that long gondola white table, he is very isolated, he is a difficult bus to say the least, and people will not bring him the bad news. they are scared as well. so, i think it is quite probable that russian intelligence at least saw straws in the wind here, and certain u.s. intelligence, did anybody who has been watching this for six months, and listening to prigozhin's rising level of frustration, would have predicted he was going to do something. the fact that he launched this crusade, and rolled towards moscow, i think is surprising. my guess is, what is in prigozhin's mind, was let's throw it up there and see who

shows up at the table, particularly the russian air force. would they come and support his troops as they went towards moscow, that did not have, been putin maintained a minimal level of control. i think putin made a smart move exiling prigozhin, but i would say again, he now will follow the motto of the middle ages, never forgive, never forget, prigozhin i think is going to face vengeance at some point. >> i want to pick up on what you just said, and president putin's minimal level of control, given the reputation of russia, given putin's global reputation for being a strong man, should prigozhin and the wagner mercenary have even been able to one have not only been crossed the border, but -- southern headquarters for russia's war on ukraine in

rostov-on-don, and then move forward seemingly unabated towards moscow. what does that say about the russian military? >> it says there is enormous weakness, and it is not just in the russian military, we have seen that on full display throughout this war. the bad logistics, the bad intelligence, the field missions, we have seen that again and again and again. what is now on display or the cracks in that political establishment, running all the way up the spine of the country like that long road from the south into moscow, this is a rotten regime at the top, that is on display. if you are a dictator, the worst thing you can show the world is that kind of weakness, it does not bode well for where putin is going. jonathan, the thing that really worries me, i've said this often, all of this is occurring in a land with thousands of nuclear weapons.

so, if we see continuing chaos, a real breakdown of the russian security system, a breakdown of control from the kremlin, i think that is job one, how to figure out how to secure or participate in securing those nuclear weapons. that is the real pipe way to the danger zone. >> and, that segues nicely to my last question, for you as a former supreme allied commander of nato, what does the rebellion and instability that it exposed mean to nato? >> it is strengthening nato. principally because, it weakens nato's major adversary, all the weaknesses we have discussed here this morning, they are powerful for nato, on top of that, finland has just join, sweden will join very shortly i'm sure, when turkey drops their objections, the alliance has never been stronger, and i

think all of this play as well for president zelenskyy and the ukrainian cause. so the bottom line here is, the winners in this episode are in the west. ukraine, the nato alliance, friends of freedom and liberty, the losers here are the autocrats of the world, you see their numbers tumbled in front of their, people and the world. >> emerald james, as always, thank you very much for lending your expertise to the sunday show. >> thank, you jonathan. >> next, my conversation with senator chris coons of the committee on the u.s. response to the wagner group rebellion, and how the western alliance is reacting to the surprising about-face. we have much more of the special edition of the sunday show to come. keep it right here. t here she can count on. and now she has myplan, the game-changing new plan that lets her get exactly what she wants and save on every perk. sadie is moving to the big city and making moves on her plan, too. apple one, on. now she's got plenty of entertainment

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prigozhin sudden halt in his most near goofs advance towards moscow, took washington and the world by surprise. president biden is keeping a close eye on the situation, the situation that saw a massive nuclear stockpile pull back from the brink of a potential storm. -- senator coons, welcome back to the sunday, show were you surprised by what happened in russia over the last 48 hours? >> jonathan, frankly, i was shocked. it was no secret that there was long running tension between prigozhin, the leader of the wagner group, a brutal mercenary organization that putin has long supported, and the minister of defense, the chief of staff of the regular army of prigozhin and minister -- have traded barbs back and forth, and for months, prigozhin has threatened to take matters into his own hands,

or has insisted on the independents of his wagner fighting force. they were critical to the win in bakhmut, there was an unfortunate very painful and bloody cost for the russians, and the ukrainians, but for him to turn and send his forces into russia, to attack and occupy the southern military command, of the russian military, and then -- we miles from russia's capital city jonathan i was simply shocked. we -- >> could pick up on your point, the washington post is reporting this morning that u.s. intelligence has learned a couple weeks ago about prigozhin sponsor insurrection, and brief the white house state department and congress. senator, were you privy to such intelligent, and if so, and i think i know the answer to, this did what happened exceed

what you were told? >> jonathan, that is not something i can talk to you about, generally or specifically. i'm not one of the first people in congress who was briefed on the highest levels, of intelligence, so i will say this, there was no surprise, there is a long run intention between prigozhin and the leadership of the military, and look, wagner is well known for being brutal, what they have done in central africa, what they have done in syria, these are thugs and war criminals. he will turn on his own, country and threatens to attack putin, that was shocking to me even if there may be others were briefed about that in advance. >> senator, part of the deal that led prigozhin to abandon his rebellion, was that he would go into exile in belarus. do you believe that prigozhin given his leader of a mercenary, group as you said, the leader of a band of the, ex chief thug

among them. that he will follow through and actually go into exile. >> he is completely unpredictable, he is also a creature and a creation of vladimir putin. it has been useful for putin to have a separate military force that he can use, against crimea in 2014, that he could use to set up control farms that interfered in our 2016 elections, prigozhin rose from being a corner are dark cellar, to a, chef to putin's chef, to someone who was doing all sorts of useful but very bad things for putin, over decades, now and what he is known for is his boldness, is aggression, and his unpredictability, so i do not have confidence that he will keep this deal, and i do not think anyone has clarity about what happens next. >> senator, let's talk more about vladimir putin former

u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul had some strong words about putin's future. listen. >> i do not think it was a stunt, i think it was a maddening, i think you can survive, this but he is much weaker today, then he was just 24 hours ago. >> senator coons, do you agree, is putin weaker than he was 24 hours ago? >> absolutely. russia's political system is one where leader is going back to the stars were relied upon secret police, upon terrorizing their population, upon ruling with an iron fist. it was stunning to me that in his address to the nation, saturday, putin referenced the developments of 1917, every russian notice that after a military adventure in the first world war, it ended an absolute disaster in 1914, where the battle -- of we are nearly 70,000 russian soldiers were encircled, and killed or captured by the germans in just a few days.

that is what precipitated the fall of -- the second -- and for putin to cite that as the reason that he was going to respond to wagner's provocation, ruthlessly, is an indication of just how vulnerable putin feels. that is also a reminder, that when he is created these different centers of power and play them off against each other, he ordinary romain's at the top of that pyramid in power as long as none of them seems to be able to successfully attack him. the wagner troops, got strikingly close to moscow. >> so, senator, given all this, and the unpredictability of prigozhin, what are you going to be watching for over the next 24 to 48 hours? >> i would welcome an intelligence briefing on whether there was any indication, were some elements of the police, the national guard, the armed forces, the special forces, the security

forces of russia, hesitated to come to putin's defense, and frankly i will be looking for ukraine to take advantage of this distraction, and this opportunity. it is also a moment where, frankly, jonathan, i am more grateful than ever that hour presidential biden is someone with decade of experience in world affairs, he knew not to insert himself, not to comment, or tweet about this matter, as his predecessor would have. instead, held a series of quick, calm, purposeful consultations, with our core nato allies, and with those who stood shoulder to shoulder with us, and with ukraine. frankly, jonathan, one of the key reasons this happened was the success of president biden's leadership, in pulling together 40 countries, to invest tens of billions of dollars in ukraine's defense, and the brave and relentless way in which ukrainians have been fighting to restore sovereignty, to kick out the russian invaders, wagner had a

really hard time over the last six months, they lost thousands and thousands of fighters. that is why the parallels to 1917 is so close, because the military disaster of the russian imperial army in the first world war, happened because of corruption in the military, bad, logistics and court morale. that is also what is happening on the frontlines to russian troops, and one of the things i will be looking for is whether or not this weakness, not just in russia's military, but in putin creates an opening for ukraine to fight their way back to recovery control of all their territory. >> senator chris coons, of delaware, as, always thank you very much for coming to the sunday show >> thank you, jonathan. >> and still to come, what is next for a wagner group mercenaries now that their leader is that abandoning his revolt for exile in belarus. we have the latest analysis with lieutenant general stephen -- way after the break.

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since russia's heavily armed wagner forces halted its advance on moscow. nbc news reports the wagner troops will officially join the russian military after their mercenary boss if any prigozhin agreed to exile in belarus. russian state media reports of criminal case against prigozhin

will be dropped, the kremlin says the wagner forces will not be prosecuted. joining me now, retired u.s. army lieutenant general steph twitty, nbc news and msnbc military analyst and former deputy commander of the united states european command. lieutenant general twitty, thank you for coming back to the show this morning. just as a tremor, the wagner group, how does this operation differ from the russian military? >> yes, jonathan. great to be with you this morning. as you know, the wagner group was this missionary -- mercenary group which stood up, to support the -- ukrainians in ukraine. they went into crimea, they moved into the dundas in order to hold that terrain. then they expanded from there, went to africa, served in libya,

they served in syria and they have grown over time. and putin has used the wagner group as his instrument of power to essentially use those locations. and of course as this war kicked off, he used them primarily in bakhmut, and probably at that point in time, the best force in russia simply because the russians were pretty weak militarily, and could not get the job done in kyiv, kharkiv, kherson and across the south there in ukraine. >> well that is a good point about the wagner group, showing the weakness of russian forces inside ukraine. the question is and this comes up because there is a washington post story today, it shows reports that u.s. intelligence officials knew for

a couple of weeks about prigozhin's plan for this rebellion, for this insurrection. what does this say about putin 's military inside russia, that we wagner group could not only crossover from ukraine into russia, but then also take over the military headquarters, and then roll north to moscow? >> yes, well a couple of things here. i think most people at least from those who served in the military, could see this coming. prigozhin, he has been extremely arrogant. he loves a lot of tension. the win in bakhmut really put him on the local stage, but put him on the world stage. he was the first unit to be successful in russia. and his head got big, he turned

the other way and he headed to moscow. so what that does is, you cannot have a force that is better than you are primary and institutional military. in this case here, the best force in russia was bakhmut, a russian military weakness which had been on display for a year and a half now. he knew that he would appear in the russian military, and at least proceed throughout this country, proceed throughout the world that he is better than the russian military. he got out on his feet, and he wanted to make light of that. and we are who we are, here today. >> so then, now that the wagner forces are going to be made to join the russian military, do you expect them to actually join the russian military? i am having a hard time

believing that a mercenary group, who many guests have come on air and called them thugs, why should vladimir putin believe that these thugs will actually join the military and be cooperative, and follow orders? >> well a couple of points here, and you are correct in everything that you just said. first of all, hockey take a unit, who has blamed the russian military for attacking its forces, how can you integrate them and think they will get along between the russian and wagner group's? b second piece, is that these are thugs. they are convicts and prisoners. these are some bad guys here and you are going to take them, take your quote unquote professional military, and with these thugs? it will never work. so we will continue to see this distrust among the military,

the russian military has already been infested with this distrust. now you will just make it worse, and try to integrate these two, and the last point i will mention is that these soldiers are extremely loyal to prigozhin. we have seen this yesterday, he said go to moscow, they went to moscow. he said back off, all of them back off. it's another still an element of that which putin has to worry about. >> last question for you, lieutenant general. what does this mean for the war, russia's war in ukraine? can zelenskyy take advantage of the chaos which is happening with vladimir putin? >> what it means is that the image of a stable russia, image of a stable putin who has a tight grip over the country, that no longer exists anymore. so, putin has shown his

weakness on the world stage yesterday, the idea that one of the we just country is in europe, with belarus, with lukashenko. and one of the strongest countries in europe is made of russia and putin, that lukashenko had to make this deal, the belt, it is just preposterous. so russia looks extremely weak right now. the idea that the russian forces can still not get their act together, and really when this war for putin, they look weak on the world stage right now. and so ukraine has an opportunity to capitalize on this. and you can see the makings of ukraine moving forward now to do so. >> lieutenant general stephen 20, as always, thank you very much for coming to the sunday show. >> good to be with you, jonathan. >> after the break, we will get

official washington reaction to russia's armed rebellion, and how washington is addressing the new risk posed to americans national security, stay with us. with us - this is our premium platinum coverage map and this is consumer cellular's map. - i don't see the difference, do you?

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president biden has been working the phones with u.s. allies over the situation in russia, speaking with his french, german and british counterparts, he's now monitoring events from camp david and will return to the white house later today. john we, now nbc news white house correspondent, monica alba. monika, the president as we know is being continuously brief or national security adviser jake sullivan, but what can we read into the public comments on the white house on this? >> hello there, jonathan. i think it is by design. you are seeing here is some key diplomatic moves behind the

scene. that is where the biden administration really wants to put the emphasis right now. they don't want to get ahead of a situation, given the fact that have been developments yesterday, the white house is really briefing the president almost hour by hour. they were following things that closely because things were changing so quickly. what you did see was that the president had this call it saturday morning with the leaders of germany, france and the uk, where they discussed the ongoing situation in russia and where all leaders really reaffirmed their support for ukraine. we did not get more details from that call, but this has been a really coordinated show of support, not just that the president has been doing by phone, but also secretary of state blinken, secretary of the set -- defense austin or both working the phones all day yesterday, to speak with counterparts, to really make sure that message about supporting ukraine's the one which is front and center right now. this started to pick off, bubble up on friday. that is when the national security adviser jake sullivan

actually canceled a trip that he was going to take the copenhagen, which was to take part in talks about ukraine, and he decided because of the developments in russia, but each state back and assess what was going on, so we could keep briefing the president. instead he participated in those discussions virtually yesterday, from the white house. he traveled with the president to camp david where he is continuing to brief the president, to make sure he has the latest information. i think that strategy again is a purposeful one, one what you will see from secretary blinken when he is set to appear on meet the press, just a couple of minutes from now. and on other sunday shows, essentially, to talk about this from the perspective of ukraine. again, not wanting at all to give any appearance that the u.s. is at all influencing behind supporting or plotting what is happening here in russia, or that somehow the west is involved. that's why they want to stay away from it in that sense for

now, jonathan. >> monika, real quickly, how has the unrest impacted the already heightened concerns about russia's nuclear arsenal? >> this is one of the first questions we posed to the white house when this all started to happen. when you look at it destabilized russia, that is top concern. we were told by u.s. officials there was no indication that russia was activating or moving any of its nuclear forces at all yesterday throughout all of this. for now the tensions seem to have decreased. that is also not taking a step back in terms of top concerns, but it was one that u.s. officials are of course wondering about, have asked about. given how volatile the situation remains, questions about president putin's future, and his grip on power, it is an area that the u.s. will continue to be monitoring extremely closely, jonathan. >> all right, nbc's white house correspondent monica alba, thank you very much. thank you for that report.

coming up next, our former cia director john brennan and what the wagner group's abandon in march to moscow means for putin and his iron grip on moscow. continuing grip on the aftermath of the prigozhin rebellion continues after this quick break. you are watching msnbc. e watching msnbc and save on every perk. sadie is moving to the big city and making moves on her plan, too. apple one, on. now she's got plenty of entertainment for the whole ride. finally there! hot spot, on. and she's fully connected before her internet is even installed. (sadie) hi, mom! (mom) how's the apartment? (vo) introducing myplan. get exactly what you want, only pay for what you need. act now and get it for $25 when you bring your phones. it's your verizon. my husband and i have never been more active. shingles doesn't care. i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care. because no matter how healthy you feel, your risk of shingles sharply increases after age 50. but shingrix protects. proven over 90% effective,

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leader of the mercenary group that led a revolt in russia back down and is cheered as he

and his forces withdraw. vladimir putin's future it will reflect how the russian leader will react to the biggest challenge yet in his 20-year plus grip on power. and how we got here. new details about what u.s. intelligence officials knew before the rebellion began. i am jonathan capehart. this is the sunday show. welcome back to the special edition of the sunday show, we are continuing our special coverage on the evolving situation in russia, or president vladimir putin faces his biggest challenge yet, in his two decade rule. a mercenary revolt, within his own country. after a 24-hour march towards moscow, you have guinea but again, head of the wagner group, ordered his forces to halt the advance in the country's capital and retu