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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Russian Forces Take Aim At Town On Ukraine's Southern Coast; President Of Georgia: Putin Waging All-Out War On Ukraine; Russia's Putin Says Ukraine Advance Going To Plan; U.S., Russia Open Hotline To Avert Clashes In Eastern Europe; Putin Claims Ukraine War "Going According To Plan;" House Passes Bill To Help Veterans Exposed To "Burn Pits;" Inside Look At Seized Yachts Linked To Sanctioned Oligarchs; NYPD Arrests Man Suspected Of Assaulting 7 Asian Women In 2-Hour Spree. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 03, 2022 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Russian forces have made major territorial gains in the central and southern parts of the country, many urban areas included but as CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports for us now. The Ukrainian people are not giving up without a fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): The town of Kherson refuses to give up it seems. Looting crippling life here, this Russian soldiers bid to get into a cell phone store, a sign of the lawless world they brought with them where food and medicine is lacking. And what life is left made more unbearable by the laying of tripwire mines, local officials said, this one post online to warn others.

On the other side of Russian held Crimea, Mariupol, under siege without water or electricity, the mare saying the Russian quote scum have found no other way to break us.

The prize in the south is this, Odessa. It's Opera House fortified its coastline a harder task. Where the tide could bring Russians in with it, yet still laps as if nothing has changed. An Estonian ship sank Thursday east of here, its crew rescued with Ukrainian officials accusing Russia of shelling it to act as cover for their landing ships. Any hour now, when the landing force could have irrevocably interview (ph).

Odessa brims with locals ready though, like so many here. The civilian defenders don't want their whereabouts filmed, but are happy to speak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The war starts or it's on back home --

WALSH: Zhena is Chief Marketing Officer for an IT company who's traveled Europe in Africa but joined up to fight on day one.

Unfortunately, I have lost two of my friends in Kherson two days ago.

WALSH (on camera): I'm sorry.

ZHENA, VOLUNTEER FIGHTER: They've -- yes. They also have been --

WALSH: They're fighting in Kherson?

ZHENA: Yes, they were fighting and they are in SS in volunteer troop. So they have no military background at all. Both of them are programmers.

WALSH (voice-over): We're joined by Lira (ph), age 19, a nanny who fled Russians in Crimea when she was 11. We're ready to the end to defend our land, she said. The occupiers came to my home before my family is still there. Only I could leave because I don't want to live in Russia.

Across town, mothers knit camouflage netting while like Nelia their daughter's fight her staying behind to defend Kyiv.

NELIA KONONOVA, VOLUNTEER: We know the danger we know that it will come but we didn't know when will it come. And I asked them children come here please, be safe, come to me. But they didn't want. No, mom. Please stay alive. Stay safe. But we will defend because everybody loves our Motherland, everybody. Sorry. Sorry. Everybody wants to be independent, to be free. They decided to stay there, and I can't influence the decision. But I pray every day. I pray every night for them to stay alive.

WALSH: But define words of Ukrainian soldiers of Snake Island who told her Russian ship where to shove it echo here.

KONONOVA: Russian ship, fuck you. Is the logo now in Ukraine.

WALSH: They'll need more than high spirits in the days ahead.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WALSH: As the nights go by here, we just constantly hear of shelling on the outskirts of this town. It has been quiet tonight so far, Jake, sirens last night but still a persistent fear that we are slowly seeing Russian forces moving in towards this price port city. Jake.

TAPPER: And Nick, there's a mayor in central Ukraine you're in southern Ukraine, is one in central Ukraine who says he's seeing more shelling there tonight. He also said an enemy convoy is headed for a nuclear power plant in his town. Has infrastructure such as this become an increasing target of the Russian forces?

WALSH: This is what you essentially have I have to ask Jake what is the goal of this Russian military operation if it is not just essentially destroying whatever it can.

[17:05:08]

Enerhodar in the center in the center of the country, a scene of serious protest amongst locals who were simply getting in the way of military convoys moving in towards its center. Why is it important? Well, it contains probably the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe. And it's currently under threat. There are deep concerns that Russian convoys moving towards that particular plant. And we've seen that, I wouldn't say want an appetite, but their utter disregard for leaving infrastructure remotely intact, often targeting it specifically against the claims of Russian officials. That is not something that they would do.

And so I think when we start seeing Russian forces, having moved near the former places of Chernobyl in the past, and now seeing the moving around Enerhodar and hearing the comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin, there are deep concerns here that we are seeing a force that has absolutely no interest in ensuring it doesn't cause the most amount of destruction possible. Jake.

TAPPER: Nick, Ukrainians continue to fight against the Russian troops. You're a longtime war correspondent. From your perspective, how long can the Ukrainians keep it up? Are they going to have the resources as long as they need them?

WALSH: This is the most awful part of all of this, Jake, is that, you know, we're seeing just the beginning here. The first week. You heard in that report there someone who's two friends died just in this week. Do they have the resources? Probably not. Do they have the will? Yes. Does that will mean that we're looking at possibly weeks of slow, ghastly, ugly attrition against Russian forces? Yes. Have we seen the Russian military's capacity for extraordinary brutality or lack of discipline or lack of focus? Yes, we've seen that in the past. If it ends badly for the Russian military, we've seen that.

Will certainly if it continues in this potentially lengthy war of attrition, it will end badly for Ukraine as well. You just have to ask what has actually come over the Russian government's apparent goal in their mind of some sort of demilitarization? They call it denazification purposes (ph) it is. What do they want left of Ukraine if they intend to try and rule over it? That's what we can't really see as its destruction unfolds. Jake.

TAPPER: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you Please stay safe. The world has watched Putin use this exact same playbook before. In 2014, Putin lied about Russian soldiers. They were actually in Crimea, even though he denied that they were and then they later seized the Ukrainian Peninsul in just a matter of weeks.

But it was six years earlier, when the world's attention was on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, when Putin targeted the former Soviet republic of Georgia, invading the country in a five-day conflict killing more than 400 people and installing pro-Russian leaders in two former provinces of Georgia now breakaway republics.

My next guest was a political leader as that 2008 invasion played out. I want to bring in right now the president of the country of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili. Madam President, thank you so much for joining us. You've said Vladimir Putin is waging an all-out war on Ukraine. Do you think in this war, he's trying to annex the entire country? Or is he just going to take select regions? What do you guess? SALOME ZOURABICHVILI, GEORGIAN PRESIDENT: Well, he doesn't look anymore, that he's just aiming at annexing a few regions. It now looks that he's destroying the whole country. It's war of mass destruction in a way. And when he says I heard his declarations today that all of that is moving according to plans, I'm not so sure that it's according to plans. It looks like he hoped or he thought that it was going to be much easier to obtain the result of reduction that he probably expected from this government. He was not planning on the way Ukrainians resisting. He had the mass assault that was very psychological so with these forces that were used from all sides, and it has not worked.

Of course, militarily, he has superiority, which one way or the other will manifest itself but the determination and the resistance of the Ukrainian people and leadership is really very admirable.

TAPPER: Putin's invasion of Georgia lasted five days that was just obviously to get those two breakaway republics. His annexation of Crimea 2014 took about a month. Bt this is a much larger seizure.

[17:10:05]

Ukraine is about the size of Texas. How do you think this is going to end a full Russian occupation of all of Ukraine in perpetuity, a puppet government? What do you think the strategy is here for Putin?

ZOURABICHVILI: Well, that's what I was saying that I think that his strategy has not worked, as he thought, Now, what is the new strategy? What is the new plan that he has? It looks more like trying to occupy the whole of Ukraine taking the cities, at whatever cost even civilians.

One thing is clear, though, his pretension that this was one nation and one people and that he reiterated today will never be true again. This never will be one people after the destruction, including the region's Russian speaking that he considered as being so close as to be brothers, the way he's been treating these cities, these people, the civilians, the children, means that he has created really not one people, but people that will be his enemies.

TAPPER: If Putin does ultimately succeed in conquering Ukraine, are you worried that he's going to turn his attention to other former Soviet states, such as, for example, Georgia?

ZOURABICHVILI: Well, he's attention, as you mentioned, was already turned once to Georgia. And Russian attention to Georgia is something that a historically has been quite often turn to Georgia. So of course, we are always attentive, always worried because we have an occupation line, we have two regions 20 percent of Georgia's territory that is occupied with a huge military bases on in those two regions, that could at any time move. But that doesn't mean that Georgia has changed its past towards the European, Euro Atlantic integration.

And in fact, today, we have entered our plea for membership the same way as Moldova. And yesterday, Ukraine. And that means that those three countries, the trio of the EU associated members is moving down the same path. So yes, you can try to frighten the countries, that doesn't mean that you change the orientation, that you change their determination to keep their independence and independence. Sovereignty means that you choose your allies, your -- you choose the organizations in which you want to integrate.

TAPPER: What do you make of the conversations that we've heard from, for instance, it's been reported in European newspapers that French president Emmanuel Macron says that this is not the same Putin that he met with in 2019, that the isolation of the last two plus years because of COVID, has really made him far more erratic. And we've saw some very emotional outbursts by him that were uncharacteristic, do you think that something is going on with him emotionally or mentally?

ZOURABICHVILI: But it must be probably very isolating to be in the position is with nobody that probably can diverge from his views or make any other opinion. Now is isolated of almost a whole world. He has some countries that do not oppose him, but they're not very much in line with his actions in Ukraine.

So he's very alone and how that does affect his psychology that I wouldn't know how to say, then no we do not have diplomatic relations with Russia. I do not have meetings with Putin. So I do not know him from close. And I wouldn't say how that affects him. But he looks and sounds very isolated and more and more aggressive, even in his speeches.

TAPPER: The president of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, thank you so much for talking us today. Please come by anytime.

ZOURABICHVILI: I wanted to add --

TAPPER: See an important --

ZOURABICHVILI: I wanted to add just one thing that talked just today to Secretary of State Tony Blinken. And he has reiterated the support of the United States to Georgia's sovereignty and integrity and at this time it's a very important thing. Thank you very much.

[17:15:05]

TAPPER: Thank you, Madam President. It's good to see you. Thank you again. Coming up next, this Russian woman who may be tiny and getting a little long in the tooth, but she's not afraid of Vladimir Putin. She's willing to be arrested by Russian police for speaking out against the invasion and brutality against Ukraine.

Then, trying to punish Russia by going after the oligarchs, various toys Russians mega yachts featuring pools and helicopter landing pads and crews of almost 100 people are being seized around the world. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:01]

TAPPER: In our world lead, the war is going according to plan. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, that's how he's characterizing the status of his violent unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as his military shells residential buildings. And as U.S. officials predict Russian forces will increasingly hit more and more civilian targets, with an estimated thousands of Ukrainian civilians already killed in just a week.

CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now live from Moscow. Nic, Putin statements was broadcast on state television. Do we have any sense of how the Russian people are reacting?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I'd say it's a split between old and young. I mean, Putin likes to use fake TV. He's kind of old school because his thinking like it's the 90s even or the notice (ph), where everyone's still watching state TV. Well, they're not. The older generation like him, the ones who grew up the Soviet Union like him, they are watching it, and they are hearing his message. And they're believing it. They believe that the country was forced to go to war. In fact, they think that they're not starting a war. They think they're ending a war that Ukraine started. They think Ukraine is backed by NATO and NATO put Ukraine up to this.

On the streets today, I found people literally set -- literally tell you exactly what they're hearing on TV, they say, we're not starting a war. We're stopping a war. You know, that's what the anchors on TV here say. So when put in goes on TV. Yes, there's a lot of the older generation that hear him.

But there's a lot of a younger generation that are getting their information by social media. They're getting their information from talking to their buddies who live all over Europe, and are seeing what we're seeing about happening in Ukraine. And they know and they say that their leadership is lying to them, that they don't trust their leadership. And they don't know what to do about it. They're frustrated by it.

But you know, they feel captive in the country. They love the country. They don't love the leadership. What are they going to do? And you get that sense of frustration when you talk to them, Jake.

TAPPER: Vladimir Putin spoke earlier today with French president Emmanuel Macron. The Russian government is engaging and direct talks, diplomatic talks with Ukraine. What do we know about those discussions?

ROBERTSON: They didn't really go anywhere. But the Russians are saying we've agreed to open up humanitarian corridors and have ceasefire around certain towns, that sounds exactly like the Russian playbook from Syria for example. What did they do? They gave certain towns ceasefires, humanitarian corridors. What do they actually do? We'll listen to the mayor's in Ukraine today. They're cutting off gas, cutting off electricity, cutting off heating, cutting off water, cutting off food.

Humanitarian corridor so civilians can get out. That's what Putin wants. He wants the civilians to get out of the way. And that's how he's trying to fight this fight. It's the idea that these are humanitarian corridors in the sense that you and I understand that's not what they're there for. They're there to clear the populations out and make the fight easier for soldiers.

TAPPER: All right, Nic Robertson in Moscow. Thank you so much. So, what is Vladimir Putin's end game? Does he have one? One of the world's foremost experts on Russia and Putin joins us with her ominous take on what the Russian leader may do next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:27:40]

TAPPER: In our world lead, there is growing concern around the world that Russia's military invasion of Ukraine could result in a direct military conflict with the West. Amid these worries, the U.S. and Russia have established a communication hotline to try to avoid any possible miscalculations or misunderstandings. That's according to senior Pentagon officials.

Let's discuss this and much more with Fiona Hill, the former National Intelligence Officer for Russia, and Eurasia on the National Security Council and author of the book, "There is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century."

Fiona Hill, thank you so much. It's great to have you on the show. Today, Putin claimed that his war against Ukraine that the U.S. says is intentionally targeting civilians is quote, going according to plan, is it?

FIONA HILL, FMR. NATL. SECURITY COUNCIL SR. DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AND RUSSIAN AFFAIRS: Well, I don't think it is. But Putin has to say that because the statements that he's making right now are for an internal audience inside of Russia. It's the elites. It's the people around him and the military commands. And it's also for the Russian population, who have also been told that this is in fact not an invasion, or a full scale military operation, but a tactical military operation. In other words, that this is somehow incisive, it's contained, that that's been done to minimize casualties in Ukraine, and obviously, to also minimize the losses of Russian servicemen.

Now on the outside, we're seeing something very different. That is looking like it's verging on carnage. And on a Russia that is prepared under Putin's direction to basically level Ukrainian cities. But those are not the images that are getting back into the Russian public.

TAPPER: You've studied Putin and Russia for a long time. How do you see this ending? Will the sanctions and strangling of the Russian economy, the isolation of the country stop Putin? Will he try to occupy Ukraine in perpetuity? I know you can't predict but what is his plan?

[17:30:00]

HILL: Well, his plan was clearly that he was going to be able to take over Ukraine cause, you know, he's already laid it out the immediate surrender of the Ukrainian military and the toppling of the Ukrainian government under Volodymyr Zelensky and presumably he was already priming a candidate for new elections in Ukraine that would have been orchestrated by Russia, and then bringing, you know, Ukraine firmly back into Russia's orbit, potentially also the annexation of additional amounts of Ukrainian territory.

Now, the end game is going to be, you know, quite different. Even if they do manage to extend control over Ukrainian cities in the south or to Kyiv, they're going to be facing an enormous amount of resistance. And this is going to go from really a contained and highly directed and controlled military operation into something that is far, much worse, that's going to drag on.

And so then in terms of the end game, I think what we're going to be able -- what we're going to have to see here is a sustained international response. I can't say how this is going to end because Vladimir Putin has made it clear that he wants to sue for surrender on our part, that he's not looking right now for some kind of off ramp. And we're going to have a really hard time making it clear to him and the people around him that they've made a mistake.

So it's not just on the battlefield in Ukraine, where this is -- war is going to be lost for Vladimir Putin. It's not just going to be in the world of public opinion. It's going to be whether the pressure mounts and efforts are made to engage with Putin and the people around him directly from many other countries. A global response, not just a response from Europe or President Macron, or President Biden, for example, it's only then that we might be able to see some recalculation on Russia's part.

And the difficulty will be about whether we can find some way in which he doesn't lose face over this. Because if he sees, he's painted himself into a corner, then we've already got a pretty good idea of where's he's contemplating of getting himself out of it.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Even as Putin was touting the success of his brutal invasion, diplomats representing Ukraine and Russia were engaged in a second round of talks, during which the Kremlin said they reached an agreement on providing humanitarian corridors for Ukrainian civilians to flee. And on a possible temporary ceasefire in some of the areas where evacuations are happening. That doesn't sound like any progress in terms of getting the Russians to end their war. It suggests, in fact, the opposite like it's going to continue. What's your reaction?

HILL: I agree, Jake, I think that's exactly what we're going to see. And in fact, what Putin may do is use these pauses as it were, to basically recalculate, recalibrate, and reposition. He's still got an awful lot of force that he can deploy. And we're seeing even more over the intimidation tactics, the ruthless shelling of civilian targets.

He still wants to have Ukrainians surrender, and perhaps, you know, he's also hoping that these must refugee Exodus, and will put pressure on the governments and the populations around Ukraine and countries like Poland and Romania, for example. And that there will be more pressure on our governments as well then, as a result, to find a way out of this on his terms. So I don't think by any stretch that we're seeing any progress here at this particular juncture, though, we've got to keep working on these humanitarian corridors and keep talking about where to find a ceasefire and end of these hostilities.

TAPPER: Fiona Hill, we've been trying to book you for years, please come back. We're big admirers of yours. And the book again is called, "There is Nothing for You Here." It is available now. Fiona Hill, a pleasure.

HILL: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Coming up next, relief from the sometimes deadly impact of these toxic pits, burn pits, which have left many of our nation's heroes suffering and desperate for help. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:37:58]

TAPPER: In our buried lead -- buried lead is that's what we call stories we feel are not getting enough attention. New hope today. New hope for veterans exposed to burn pits. Today the House of Representatives passed legislation that would expand health care eligibility for servicemembers who were exposed to these toxins during war.

Throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, burn pits were used 24/7 to incinerate all sorts of waste, food, old uniforms, medical waste, military equipment, jet fuel, medical waste, even human feces. This exposure left many veterans with long lasting side effects, the worst of which is cancer.

Here to discuss is Isiah James, he's an Army veteran who served twice in Iraq, once in Afghanistan, and is now a senior policy adviser for the Black Veterans Project. Isiah, you've been advocating for veterans exposed to burn pits for years with the organization Burn Pits 360. You yourself have been dealing with long lasting effects. Explain to our audience what that's like and what you're experiencing now.

ISIAH JAMES, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ARMY VETERAN: What it's like -- first of all, Jake, thank you for having me back on for covering this very important issue. To sum it up, you know, it's like having a weight on your chest every time you take a step. For me, I had really bad -- I have really bad lung scarring. And I'm on oxygen therapy every day of my life. You just don't see it because my machine is in my bedroom.

It's almost the invisible wound that nobody sees. Because we look like young, healthy people are coming back from these wars and campaigns overseas, but we're dealing with these very big traumas that are still going on inside our body every day.

TAPPER: The bill, the legislation the House passed today could provide coverage for up to 3.5 million veterans. What's your reaction to today's vote?

JAMES: It's a step in the right direction. It truly truly is because this issue has been, you know, falling by the wayside for so many years. It's saddening to see that over 170 Republicans play partisan politics and voted no against the bill that is helping the warfighters.

[17:40:06]

And quite frankly, Jake, they should be ashamed of themselves to ever say they support the military and veterans. It's a step in the right direction but it's not enough. We still need to get all those presumptives in there. And I know this bill, but expand care for some 3.5 million veterans.

But now we need to add to this bill. If we fight over, we need to expand health care for all veterans who serve, you know, in the military, regardless of how much air you serve in. Because we still have Vietnam vets who were still fighting to get, you know, the benefits that they were exposed to Agent Orange, you know, 60 years ago. So it's a long, hard fight slog, but I am thankful that we're take a step in the right direction,

TAPPER: Say long, bipartisan history in this country of screwing over our veterans after asking them to fight for us. The U.S. Senate passed its own bill on burn pits, aimed at helping former service members that passed in February. That bill's different from the bill passed the House just now. They're going to need to be reconciled before something ultimately lands on President Biden's resolute desk to sign. Are you hopeful that this process will be resolved soon, and President Biden will be able to sign something into law?

JAMES: I -- I'm hopeful that it is and I'm pretty sure it will be because we're going to be giving them hell. I was up on the Hill not too long ago meeting with some of these senators and and we were meeting with Republicans another name, which ones and quite frankly, the main thing they talk about is money. We can't pay for this. We can't pay for that.

You know, I mean, and we're going to keep giving them hell (INAUDIBLE) issues are hopefully, something does get on the President's resolute desk very, very soon, because we're not going to stop. They trained us to never quit. And then we're going to see how strong our result is.

TAPPER: The President has said that his son Beau might have developed the deadly brain cancer that killed him by being exposed to a burn pit while serving in Iraq, that he was clear to note that there's no proof of that. What do you make of that and what do you make of his efforts to get this issue resolved?

JAMES: First of all, I'm sorry that he lost his son at such a young age, at the age that I am right now. And I'm glad that he -- it's is on his radar, because he touched him so personally. There's no proof that happened because everybody -- there's no studies being done. Everybody just pushing us to the wayside.

I'm glad that he's finally, you know, taking an issue with it. And he's putting, you know, the power of the presidency behind it. It's been too long that we've, you know, push this issue to the back. I was exposed to Burbidge and I know a lot of my buddies, you know, my age who have died from cancer, and these strange cancer that don't come from anything, but exposure to these toxic chemicals.

And in no other facet of life with exposed to these toxic chemicals, save for the military service. So again, I'm glad the President sees it. I'm sorry he lost his son. I remember what happened in the news. And I -- hopefully this will light a fire under him to light a fire on the Congress as we're doing so.

TAPPER: Just so our viewers understand, it's illegal to build these burn pits in the United States. You're not allowed to do it.

JAMES: Yes.

TAPPER: But for some reason, we do it in Iraq and Afghanistan, right near our servicemembers and innocent civilians. Finally, I want to ask you it was when the President brought up burn pits and helping veterans that Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert yelled out that Biden had put servicemembers in coffins. She referenced the 13 service members who were killed during that ugly withdraw from Afghanistan last summer. What was your response to that moment?

JAMES: I'm going to speak plainly, Jake. She's an idiot. All right. And yes, I said that. She cannot even equate that to what we're talking about right now. Those servicemembers who served their country honorably and died in service when, you know, that what happened in Afghanistan happened. They were doing their duty.

President Biden had nothing to do with that. And for her to interrupt the sitting commander in chief as he's talking about something so poignant and so important, just to score some cheap political points that only play on some obscure networks for right wing trolls is inexcusable. And she should be ashamed of herself, but she's not going to be because she doesn't have any candidate (ph).

TAPPER: Isiah James, it's always great to see you. Thank you for your voice. Thank you for your service as always, we appreciate it. Hope to have you on again soon when this finally makes it to the President's desk.

80-foot pools and helicopter landing pads just some of the luxuries in the newly seized yachts of Russia's rich and famous. We're going to take you inside next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:49:21]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to televisions unchallenged authority on wealth, prestige and success. It's another dazzling lifestyles of the rich and famous.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Those of us of a certain age all remember the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" theme song and host Robin Leach with his champagne wishes and caviar dreams. But this week, it's vodka wishes and borscht dreams and they're being shattered. That's because billionaire Russian oligarchs with ties to Vladimir Putin had been slapped with sanctions, resulting in their prized and quite pricey possessions such as multimillion dollar yachts being taken away.

CNN's Drew Griffin now with a closer look at the floating mansions caught in the middle of this pressure campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[17:50:07]

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 280 foot yacht Amore Vero features multiple decks, has a swimming pool that turns into a helicopter pad and boasts of master and VIP suites to accommodate up to 14 guests, and it's just been seized by the French government. It's linked to Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russian oil giant Rosneft. Though the yacht company now says he doesn't own it.

European Union sanctions Sechin earlier this week, describing him as one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most trusted and closest advisers. The seizure, part of a coordinated action from Western countries making it difficult for Russian billionaires to operate and putting pressure on Putin.

BILL BROWDER, CEO, HERMITAGE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: This is what he cares about. This is what's important to him. This helps because the oligarchs look after Putin's money. We want to punish Putin personally indirectly, for what he's done. And this is the most direct way of doing that.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Another target of coordinated sanctions, the super yacht Dilbar, it's currently being renovated in Hamburg, Germany, and owned by a telephone and mining magnate. It has dozens of cabins and a crew of 96 people. Guests can swim in an 80-foot pool once the largest ever put on a yacht.

A CNN review from marinetraffic.com found yachts have been reported to be owned by Russian oligarchs spread out across the world. Some were already on the move towards friendlier ports in anticipation of a worldwide crackdown.

CATHERINE BELTON, AUTHOR, "PUTIN'S PEOPLE": The problem is, is that the sanctions have been announced ahead of time so probably right now they're all busy, feverishly, engineering deals in which ownership changes could be triggered the minute sanctions are handed down. So it's going to be a game of cat and mouse, unfortunately.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): That cat and mouse game may have already begun even with Russian billionaires who are not under sanction. The Galactica Super Nova with floor-to-ceiling marble and outdoor theater and a waterfall pool reportedly owned by a Russian oil company executive left Barcelona on Saturday and cross the Mediterranean to Montenegro. The ownership is often hidden behind complicated registries and Shell companies. These yachts are a symbol of the cash and prestige oligarchs have built under Putin. Luxuries like anti- missile defense systems, bomb proof doors and a mini-submarine or a beauty salon and an elevator.

One yacht now out of reach of any Western authorities, the Graceful. German media has speculated the owner is none other than Vladimir Putin himself. Two weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, the yacht left Hamburg, Germany and sped to Kaliningrad Russia, where no location data has been recorded since.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Jake, U.S. government also sanctioned five ships it says are tied to a Russian bank oil tankers freighters that author Catherine Belton has spoken to a few of these oligarchs. She says they are in shock never thought Putin would go this far. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Drew Griffin, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Targets of hate, seven Asian American women attacked in New York City in just two hours, seven. And police say the same man did it. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:57:44]

TAPPER: In our national lead, a terrifying two hours of hate crimes in New York City. Seven women, seven women assaulted on the streets. The violence spree spread across Manhattan. All seven women assaulted were Asian American and their ages ranged from 19 to 57. Police have arrested and charged 28-year-old Steven Zajonc with seven counts of assault as a hate crime.

Sadly, this is only the latest incident marking a disturbing trend. More than 130 anti-Asian American incidents were confirmed in just New York City in 2021. A massive jump from the 27th reported in 2020.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is with us live now. Jen (ph) -- Brynn, rather, what the police say happened here?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, Jake, this is why the Asian Hate Crimes Task Force was formed for the NYPD right to get all these resources to help get these arrests happening quickly. And that's what happened here. These incidents allegedly happening on Sunday, this arrest happening on Wednesday. So that is a good thing. Police are on it. But, of course, we are seeing far too many of these incidents.

In this particular case what police are telling us happened is this 28-year-old man again now behind bars and facing a number of charges that are hate crime related, essentially went from midtown Manhattan over two hours free down to the lower part of Manhattan, attacking women of Asian descent aging from 19 to 57 years old. Police saying this man would go up to them, essentially punch them in the face, and would then move on attacking another woman on this track.

Again, several days later, he was arrested. He's facing those charges. But the hate crimes unit saying that this is happening far too often. And they're continuing what they have always been doing, which is trying to close these cases, but also trying to educate the community, these communities essentially to report these crimes.

If something happens to you, make sure you report them so they can actually close these cases. But again, these crimes becoming more heinous. Just recently, Jake, we've seen actually a number of cases that we have talked about here on your newscast where the victims have died from the incidents that are happening. And certainly the the fear here is that more incidents are going to happen because more people are now taking the subways, more people are returning back to life here, especially in New York City. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.

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