CIA Director Burns says the Wagner uprising's fallout 'will play out for some time'

CIA Director William Burns called the short-lived Russian mercenary rebellion "a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect" of Putin's regime. Burns is pictured testifying at a House Select Committee on Intelligence annual open hearing at the U.S. Capitol in March. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

CIA Director William Burns said that the repercussions of the recent aborted revolt in Russia led by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin won't blow over any time soon and offer a reminder of the damage President Putin's regime has inflicted on Russia.

"It is striking that Prigozhin preceded his actions with a scathing indictment of the Kremlin's mendacious rationale for its invasion of Ukraine, and of the Russian military leadership's conduct of the war," Burns said on Saturday in a speech delivered at the Ditchley Foundation in Oxfordshire, England. "The impact of those words and those actions will play out for some time, a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of Putin's war on his own society and his own regime."