anchor: it is 2:00 p.m. in paris and you are watching is 24. these are your headlines. in a statement to the nation, vladimir putin praises soldiers of the wagner group who avoided bloodshed, promising safe passage to belarus or entry into the army. yevgeny prigozhin claims he did not want over the russia's government, while warning the country's security was not to standard. kyriakos mitsotakis is sworn in

as prime minister for second term increase. promises of institutional and economic reform. ♪ thank you for joining us, we are live from paris. in a statement to the nation monday, russia's president vladimir putin thanked wagner mercenary fighters and commanders who stood down following the aborted mutiny on saturday. putin is currently speaking and we will head to him. >> i would like to talk to you about the current situation and what now needs to be done. i would like to talk about the missio we have to implement for our nation.

anchor: that is the last bit of vladimir putin in his speech to the nation, saying he would honor promises he made following the rebellion allowing wagner fighters to relocate to belarus if they wanted or to sign a contract with the defense ministry, simply returning to their families. we will go over the speech. philip, first reactions to what vladimir putin has said? philip: we had reports that vladimir putin was gonna make several statements. we had one statement have an hour ago and now these images of him speaking. it's all a bit erratic and giving the impression this has been thrown together last minute, whereas we are talking about this happen 48 hours ago

and vladimir putin was slow to come forward. we didn't even know where he was the last 24 hours or so. it was announced earlier today he would make it each and then we ought these images of hymns eking, no mention of the -- images of him speaking, no mention of the mutiny. some analysts were wondering if was from the archives. the last half-hour we have the statement where he is offering and all of branch to the wagner fighters, you can go to belarus or integrate into the regular russian army. i think that is vladimir putin saying he's going to dismantle wagner group, the wagner forces and despite that they might have taken part in the events of saturday, offer the possibility

to go forward and not face any charges. no mention in that address of the man behind it all, yevgeny prigozhin. we don't know if he is in belarus, where he was offered a place to go, we don't know if he is ill in russia, if he has gone back to ukraine. we only have the 11 minute audio from earlier today where he made it clear that what he was doing was not trying to orchestrate some kind of coup against the russian government, he was protesting against the way his fighters had been treated to the russian military and particularly by the chief of staff and the defense minister. vladimir putin making no mention of prigozhin at all in his statement, and as of tonight, no changes we can see in the military leadership in russia. two contradictory statements

from two men who don't get on with each other, the least you can say. doesn't look like any protest has been made to find a solution to what has happened. vladimir putin coming out of this pretty weakened. anchor: how will the russian people on the street be responding to the statements by putin in lieu of the events that have just taken place? philip: there are two ways of looking at that. the first is that a lot of russians are, i think, fairly fed up the whole situation and the war. they will roll their lives and want to get on with their lives, they don't want to get involved in politics. others have seen this kind of thing before, certainly the coup against mikael gorbachev in 1991. this kind of little cool of people is nothing new in russia

or particularly strange to russians. they say we will move on afterwards. i think what you have to remember is the information being given out by the russian media, state via, social media -- state media and social media cared up to protect vladimir and russian leadership. that's the most important thing. the information in the public will be in support of what is going on in ukraine from russia's point of view. it's very hard for the russian people to get in the deck to view of what is going on there, -- an objective view of what is going on there, which is why i think many of them will say it is business as normal as far as the kremlin is concerned, let's get on with our lives. anchor: very interesting. vladimir putin speaking, the latest images with the defense minister. we go back to yevgeny prigozhin.

he says he never meant to overthrow the russian government and the wagner boss broke his silence to days after he led the mutiny. it was a fun statement on telegram lasting about 11 minutes, he said he stopped the charge to avert more russian bloodshed. he also said his troops stopped several hundred kilometers short of moscow. reporter: not an attempt to over the russia's government to teach a lesson and maintain the existence of wagner. yevgeny prigozhin has broken his silence with an 11 minute audio message. >> a master class on what 2022 should have looked like. we turned around troops in order not to shed blood of russian soldiers. reporter: the chief of the

private military organization says his troops got as close as 200 kilometers away from moscow before deciding to turn back. >> i want to point out i showed a lot of things we talked about, serious security problems in the country. we took airfields that were in our way. reporter: a blow to vladimir putin's credibility and a huge escalation in prigozhin's futile with the russian defense ministry. he claims it was planning to put in into wagner as of first july. >> no one was going to sign a contract with the ministry of defense. despite that we did not show any aggression, we were hit i missiles. reporter: where he recorded his message from as well as win is unknown and his claims can't be verified. a deal was supposedly struck

that would see him move to belarus but officials have not confirmed if he has arrived in the country or what his status would be. at various wagner recruitment centers, russian state media says it is business as usual, but the future role of prigozhin in and outside of ukraine remains uncertain. anchor: a resounding theme is we don't know where prigozhin really is. u.s. intelligence saying as much as well. what do you expect for him? philip: it's true, john kirby, a spokesman for the u.s. government, said the u.s. doesn't know where he is. we don't know at the current moment what will happen to him. this does not bode well for yevgeny prigozhin. the first part is we have seen him open his mouth and being very verbal and aggressive and rude and using swearwords to criticize not vladimir putin by

name certainly the defense minister and chief of staff, both of whom he wants gone. that hasn't happened. i don't think there's much chance that he will suddenly shut up and disappear into the woodwork. that will also be a fly in the ointment for vladimir putin. if he goes to belarus, he will not be in the position of security because he knows the belarusian president is a close ally of vladimir putin even though putin has treated him with a certain degree of contempt from time to time. they are still very closely intertwined with each other. if he goes to belarus, he knows he's going to be within arms reach of vladimir putin if vladimir putin wants to deal with him. there have been calls for yevgeny prigozhin to be given a bullet in the head to shut him up as a result of his statements and what happened saturday. what we know is there has been

an offer from vladimir putin tonight to integrate members of the wagner forces into the regular russian army where he will -- where they will be less well-paid. if they want to do that, remains to be seen. that's something yevgeny prigozhin always refused to agree to. we don't know what he will do, family fighters will be with him in belarus, if he will be loyal to vladimira putin -- vladimir putin or be silent. he has been the monster vladimir putin has created and he doesn't really know how to deal with him. it's a big problem for putin because he depends on loyalty even more than someone being intelligent or politically motivated. this time around he created a monster who is not in loyal and that has upset the apple cart as far as vladimir putin being a strongman and totally in control in the war in ukraine, something

we've seen may not be the case. anchor: of course the world watches. washington has been keeping a close eye on the short-lived insurrection in russia, but president biden says the u.s. and nato were not involved. he also says it's too early to assess how the events will impact the war in ukraine. >> the situation began to develop and i directed my national security team to monitor closely and report to me hour-by-hour. i instructed them to prepare for a range of scenarios. i also convened our key allies on a zoom call to make sure we are all on the same page. they agreed we need to make sure we gave putin no excuse, no excuse to blame this on the west or nato. anchor: in ukraine, president zelenskyy made a visit to

frontlines partially occupied for russian forces for long parts of the invasion. he handed out medals to troops before being briefed by a regional commander. for more on this quick appearance, we have a report from kyiv. reporter: he thinks soldiers for their service and met with top generals. i think we can see in this visit of president zelenskyy to the region a deliberate contrast to the video put out of the russian defense minister allegedly visiting troops fighting in ukraine, that there is some doubt whether that was filmed in ukraine or filmed after yevgeny prigozhin's rebellion. there is no sound on the video. ukrainians are trying to milk this for all it is worth and play it to their advantage as much as possible. the official line presented by authorities is absolutely this

whole affair shows russia as weak and chaotic. in ukraine there's also a certain level of anxiety about what happened and what it means for the future. of course people in ukraine are aware chaos in russia may be good for them but it also might not, it might lead the russians to make rash decisions. there's a lot of talk in ukraine. evidence russians blew up a dam, and whether they might blow up the zaporizhzhia power plant if they get desperate. there is a combination of a certain level of enjoyment watching the chaos in russia and a certain level of apprehension and anxiety. anchor: a second term in office for greek prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis. he swept to victory in the latest vote, officially sworn in on monday. his new democratic party claimed more than twice the main

opposition. despite the biggest conservative winning margin in almost 50 years, several challenges awake. our correspondent tells us more. reporter: the economic policies will be pushed through, no doubt. speaking to ordinary greeks of the lower echelons of society, they were saying where is all of this growth? my pocket hasn't seen it. that's what he repeated in his electoral campaign, to increase wages, reduce inequality. inflation hasn't been any easier. to continue with his pro-business and pro-investment agenda, fiscal discipline. and much-needed reforms in education and health care. free health care needs improvement he said. but no doubt he will have to tame the bureaucratic yeast that is the greek public service and

that means to reduce it somehow, especially in the judiciary, which needs cutbacks. he will have to do this pretty soon before he exhausts his political capital. when it comes to migration, tough stance will remain, especially with hard right parties in parliament. despite criticism received by the european union, especially in light of the recent shipwreck causing hundreds of lives lost in the a g and, -- in the agean, he will push through. anchor: time for business with yuka. all of the talk about the greek prime minister, he's promised to

push ahead with economic reforms. yuka: the newly reelected prime minister had campaigned on the promise of rebuilding greece's credit rating and building state revenues. the economy stabilized during his previous term as greece tried to recover from a severe debt crisis that forced the country to sign up for three international bailout programs. we have a report. reporter: as he was sworn into office for the second time, kyriakos mitsotakis promised quick action and measurable results. >> greek citizens have every right to fight for a better future for themselves, their families and country. i am committed to making big changes and reforms in this second term, which the country needs. reporter: the former banker campaigned on economic transformation, pledging to

restore the country's credit rating, boost state revenues, increase wages and tackle inequality. whether or not they believe he can deliver, greeks hope for change after suffering years of austerity measures during the debt crisis. >> i belong to the middle class and i am struggling. i am not satisfied. they cut our pensions by about 40%. >> i am worried about daily wages and exportation by employers. reporter: the greek economy stabilized under mitsotakis's previous government, gdp grew by 5.9% last week -- last year while the unemployment has fallen from a peak of 28%. challenges remain by bringing down the national debt, 400 billion euros last september. these will be tasks for this minister, who oversaw

restructuring. yuka: france, germany and italy say they will work more closely to secure supplies and raw materials. finance ministers three of the largest eu economies met in berlin as europe aims to just reliance on china for supplies of raw materials such as with the them and nickel critical for making electric car batteries. in march, the european commission put forth proposals to supply key materials. >> many of the products we use and produce in europe are dependent on raw materials from a large country, china. in some cases, up to 90% or more. it must be europe's goal in addition to increasing its competitiveness, to establish its own sovereignty. that's what we've been talking about today. yuka: turning to news from down

under, pwc, one of the world four accounting groups says it will sell its government consulting unit in australia for one cent after a scandal. it emerged a former partner had allegedly leaked classified government information. according to the australian treasury, between 2014 and 2017, that person shared secret tax plans with colleagues who than used the information to pitch to potential corporate clients. the revelation sparked public outcry and prompted a parliamentary inquiry into the broader consulting sector and the resignation of the former ceo of pwc australia. let's have a check on some of the day's trading action. in europe, ending the day on a mixed note, london in frankfurt dipping by about 1/10 of

percentage point and paris rising about 3/10. wall street closed in the red for a fourth straight session. the russian ruble on the foreign exchange pledged to a 14 month low against the u.s. dollar over developed over the weekend. finally, a masterpiece by gustav clamped -- klimt could become the most expensive. "lady with a fan" was still in his studio when he died in 1918. sotheby's estimates it will fetch around 76 million euros. the painter produced thousands of drawings and paintings in his lifetime, some of which were just right or looted by nazis. anchor: he sold into thousand six -- they sold in 2006 four

an astonishing amount. it's time for truth or fake, our fact checking segment. what was the fake news surrounding the russian conflict? catalina: we saw one of the most direct challenges to pugin's authority in a decade as the wagner group pulled troops from the ukraine front running -- frontline to confront the russian government. on social media users claim to show confrontations between wagner and russian forces. begin with this video posted on twitter on june 25. one day following initial confrontations. we see this plane that users claim is a plane belonging to

the russian army throwing missiles targeting wagner troops. the caption reads "war in russia, russian air forces engaging wagner ground troops." anchor: does this video really show confrontations between the russian army and the wagner group? catalina: this video has nothing to do with real life or the wagner group rebellion. we found the original video posted on youtube on january 2021 by this account, a youtube page that describes itself as a channel that creates modern cinematic military films using programs we've seen many times before, a military simulation videogame.

it was use this time to falsely portray confrontations. anchor: interesting to see how detailed these videogames can make us believe something is. in a second video where we allegedly see a russian plane bombing wagner positions, tell us more. catalina: we have two instances posted on twitter, on june 25, this video shared with an identical caption that reads " russian air forces engaging with wagner ground troops," posted with this video where we see this fighter jet launching several missiles before being targeted and destroyed by another missile as well. we found this original video posted on youtube as well on this page, posted earlier this year in march with a caption that reads "russia's elite air

force versus ukraine," arma 3 again, from this page called battle pops, which reads military simulation channel. here we have two examples that we just showed of users using this videogame footage in order to deceive users to believe this is real footage coming out of the wagner group rebellion. it doesn't mean there weren't impressive real images coming out of this conflict. both russia and the wagner group both experienced losses. we have this photo and this video from a reliable source on twitter that shows, for example, wagner forces managed to shoot down this russian military

plane. anchor: check your truth, extrapolate fact and see what is fake. catalina with truth or fake. that's all the news for france 24 but more coming up in a bit and we will see you then. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> france 24, your window on the world. liberté, égalité, actualité. >> in the netherlands, global warming looms large over the population. rising waters a constant concern for a country traumatized by its past. >> on february 1, 19 53, a huge flood submerged northern europe. in the netherlands, 1800 people we killed. 70 years later, locals fear another disaster. ♪

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06/26/23 06/26/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> betrayal of the country. five and died for, side-by-side with her other units. amy: vladimir putin tries to restore calm after a short-lived