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Teen's Call to Action for Uyghurs Goes Viral; Huawei CEO Talks to CNN One Year after CEO Daughter's Arrest; Putin Portrayed as International Statesman in 2020 Calendar. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 28, 2019 - 00:00   ET

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

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a big boost: the U.S. backs Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters with a new human rights law and Beijing is not happy.

A big cut: Donald Trump slashes funding for NATO just days before he is set to meet with U.S. allies in Europe.

A big lead: a new poll shows Boris Johnson's Conservatives on track to win a significant majority in next month's election.

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CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

So China is furious over a new U.S. law that embraces Hong Kong's pro- democracy movement. Beijing's foreign affairs ministry has issued a blistering statement, accusing the U.S. of bullying behavior in enacting the legislation.

The new law allows for U.S. sanctions in response to human rights violations against Hong Kong citizens and it requires an annual review of Hong Kong's special status but the U.S. president said he won't enforce parts of the law where it interferes with U.S. foreign policy. We get the latest from CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump signed legislation that shows the U.S.' support for protesters in Hong Kong, who are protecting the Chinese government's crackdown on the autonomy of that Hong Kong territory.

Now this legislation, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act will authorize new sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who are accused of carrying out human rights abuses in Hong Kong.

It would also create an annual review of the U.S.' special trade relationship with the Hong Kong government. An annual review that would be subject to how autonomous Hong Kong actually remains from Mainland China.

Now the president has been extremely resistant signing this legislation. A few days before he signed this, he suggested he might even perhaps veto the legislation but ultimately, colliding with reality, the president recognizing the overwhelming support in the House and the Senate veto-proof majorities that authorized this legislation.

Nonetheless the president sending perhaps a bit of a peace offering to the Chinese president as he does sign this legislation. The president saying in a statement accompanying the announcement that he signed the legislation saying, I sign these bills out of respect for President Xi, China and the people of Hong Kong. They're being enacted in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long-term peace and prosperity for all.

The big question is how this will impact the ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations. We know that President Trump has been extremely eager to obtain this trade agreement with China. He promised President Xi back in June that he would not publicly criticize the Chinese government's actions in Hong Kong as they continue to negotiate this trade agreement.

That is how much the president cares about getting to an agreement here. But the Chinese government, for its part has already signaled it would retaliate if President Trump did indeed sign this legislation into law, which perhaps explains why President Trump put out this friendly statement accompanying it -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, traveling with the president in Palm Beach.

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CHURCH: CNN's Steven Jiang joins us live from Beijing.

Good to see, you Steven. And our reporter mentioned, the biggest question here is how this will impact trade negotiations. I will talk about that in a moment.

But just has surprised was China by this move by the United States?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: Well, Rosemary, I think they saw this coming. This bill passed both houses of the U.S. Congress and so I think they realized President Trump hands were tied. Within hours of this bill becoming law and the U.S. at least 40 from Chinese government agencies issued statements in addition to statement from the Hong Kong government.

The Chinese foreign ministry, for, example in a statement said and I quote here, "The U.S. has been disregarding facts and distorting truth. It openly backed violent criminals who rampantly smashed facilities, set, fire assaulted innocent civilians, trampled on the rule of law and jeopardized social order.

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JIANG: "The egregious and malicious nature of its intentions is fully revealed."

So very harsh words but not surprising given what we have been hearing from senior level Chinese officials in the past few weeks, especially in the last few days.

So, from Beijing's perspective, this bill serves as the latest reminder that at least that is what they have been telling the Chinese people, that the U.S. is the biggest block hand behind the chaos in Hong Kong and the protesters are actually being encouraged by the U.S. to stage a revolution in that territory.

But analysts also pointed out this is partly because Beijing, the government is trying to use the U.S. to cover its own mistakes and misjudgment on the whole situation of Hong Kong.

Remember, just a few days ago before Hong Kong held its local district elections, officials here in the state media were trying to paint this picture of pro Beijing candidates winning that election. But of course, the exact opposite happened, so there has been a bit of covering its own mistakes as, well Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Steven, with China so angry with this new U.S. law, how might this impact sensitive trade negotiations currently underway with the United States?

JIANG: This is interesting, because in the past few days, we have also seen signs of the Chinese government trying to separate these two issues. Remember, as recently as Tuesday, top negotiators on both sides actually held a phone call during which they reached a consensus to really resolve their trade disputes and agreed to maintain communication on resolving remaining issues so both sides can reach a so-called phase one deal.

And I think that is because president, Xi like President Trump, really wants to see this deal happen given the slowing economy here in China. Now of course, this Hong Kong law would compound this, but given this is a one party dictatorship, president Xi probably has the advantage of having more power capacity to deal with domestic backlash as well as internal opposition within this party.

CHURCH: Many thanks to our Steven Jiang bringing us the latest from Beijing.

Asian financial markets have now had a chance to digest the new U.S. law on Hong Kong. As you can see, stock exchanges in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul are all trading slightly down there.

Well, President Trump says that some Mexican drug cartels will be designated foreign terrorists. It means members of those groups would not be allowed to enter the U.S. legally and Americans would be forbidden from supporting them. Mr. Trump was asked if it means the groups will be attacked with drones.

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TRUMP: I don't want to say what I'm going to do but they will be designated. I will be designating the cartels, absolutely. I have been working on that for the last 90 days. You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process and we're well into that process.

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CHURCH: But Mexico is pushing back against President Trump's plan. It is concerned it could eventually lead to a violation of its sovereignty. Matt Rivers has the latest now from the Mexican capital.

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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Mexican government responding they are not happy with this latest announcement President Trump that the United States could soon designate certain criminal groups here in Mexico as terrorist organizations.

They seem surprised, the Mexican foreign ministry here, saying he was urgently try to setup a meeting with secretary of state Mike Pompeo to get some clarification on the president's announcement here and what it might mean for the relationship between both countries.

As the president of Mexico, President Lopez Obrador had his daily press conference in Mexico City on Wednesday morning. He didn't talk too much about the situation but made his views clear.

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ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO (through translator): I only need to say, cooperation, yes; interventionism, no.

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RIVERS: Basically what the United States is doing is saying certain groups in Mexico could soon be labeled a foreign terrorist organization. It basically sets up a legal framework in the United States for the U.S. to take harsher legal action, certain steps against certain criminal groups here in Mexico.

Those actions could range from financial institutions in the United States not being allowed to do any sort of business with anyone who has any relation to these foreign terrorist organizations. They would not be able to travel to the United States.

Experts say there's no doubt this will have a pretty major impact on the bilateral relationship between Mexico and United States.

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RIVERS: But further, there is also clearly a few here in Mexico that the United States could use this designation as some sort of a justification for the United States to send its military or some of its troops inside Mexican borders to tackle the drug cartel problem. Just earlier this month, when nine Americans with dual citizenship in both countries were killed in Mexico in the northwestern state of Sonora in a suspected case of drug cartels in the region.

Trump suggested that he would be willing to send in military forces because something has to be done about it. Mexico, the government here, thanked him for the offer but said they don't want military help.

So the fear is perhaps that President Trump could use this foreign terrorist organization monitor, this designation, as a kind of justification, sending troops into Mexico. Mexico would view that as a violation of its sovereignty, it would not be very well received in Mexico and President Trump has not said he is going to do it and he is even considering that.

That is the, fear that is the concern here Mexico right now after this announcement from President Trump. Matt Rivers, CNN, in Mexico City.

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CHURCH: The Trump administration can claim a win it's effort to force NATO members to pay more for their membership in the alliance. The U.S. is reducing its contribution to NATO's direct budget as President Trump prepares to attend NATO's annual summit. Ryan Browne has the details.

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RYAN BROWNE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: NATO allies this week agreed to a Trump administration proposal to reduce the U.S. contribution to NATO's direct budget. Now this budget is relatively small. It is about $2.5 billion and it covers the headquarters operations as well as some military operations and other investment programs.

But it is a symbolic victory for the Trump administration. President Trump has long lambasted European members of NATO for not spending enough on their defense and so getting them to boost their contributions and allow the U.S. to reduce its payment into the NATO alliance is a bit of a victory for Trump as he prepares to travel to London to attend a NATO summit which will mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance.

That summit could still prove contentious. There are other issues at play. President Trump may ask for even additional contributions from European members, Turkey's incursion into Syria is likely to be an issue that will be debated among the allies there.

But a different symbolic victory for the Trump administration as it seeks to get European countries to pay more. The actual dollar amount relatively minor, the U.S. had been paying about a quarter of NATO's budget. That will now go down to about 16 percent, we are, told but still a symbolic victory for the Trump administration on the eve of a major NATO summit -- Ryan Browne, CNN, the Pentagon.

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CHURCH: To Britain, a new opinion poll is good news for Boris Johnson. Research group YouGov says the prime minister's Conservative Party is on course to win a majority of 68 seats, a total of 359, while Labour would end up with just 211.

Now this is how many seats each party might win if the December 12th election were held today. Two years ago, YouGov accurately predicted a U.K. hung Parliament.

Meanwhile, critics of Mr. Johnson's main rival, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn say he may be trying his hand at the art of deflection a day after his Labour Party was again accused of anti-Semitism. Corbyn is showing off a dossier on U.K.-U.S. trade talks.

He says the uncensored government document proves the National Health Service will be on the table during any negotiations.

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JEREMY CORBYN, LEADER, LABOUR PARTY: His government released this. We have since obtained this.

Perhaps he would like to explain why these documents confirmed the U.S. is demanding the NHS is on the table in the trade talks. These unsent documents the Boris Johnson's denial in absolute tatters.

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The NHS is in no way on the table, in no aspect whatever. And this NHS (Ph) continually brought up by the Labour Party as a diversion tactic from the difficulties they are encountering, in particularly over the problem about leadership on anti-Semitism and then the great vacuity about their policy on Brexit.

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CHURCH: Joining me now to talk more about this is CNN European editor, Dominic Thomas.

Great to have you with us.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Hi, Rosemary.

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CHURCH: So it is always been Boris Johnson's election to lose. But if this opinion poll reflects true voter sentiment, then he'll be feeling pretty good right now.

How reliable are these numbers, though?

that Well, what many have argued is that they're actually far more reliable than the broader kind of national polling where you take a sample of 100,000 people.

These polls go into detail about demographics and income and the particular regions that one lives in.

And so Boris Johnson will feel emboldened here and will feel like the decision to call the general election was a good one and that it has the potential to change the arithmetic in Parliament, which is everything he has been arguing he needed in order to get his Brexit deal done.

CHURCH: Right, in the meantime, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is dealing with accusations of anti-Semitism.

How damaging has that controversy been for him?

Do you think it is reflected in his poll numbers?

THOMAS: I think it is certainly taken some of the oxygen out of his campaign. It is very distracting. It means that yet again he has to address these issues. He has apologized in the past for this and it is really quite extraordinary that, on this occasion, he did not take that opportunity to do the same again.

It is a lingering issue and it allows the opposition, the main party, to be able to tackle him on this and to distract him from other messages that he is trying to get across here.

CHURCH: And what is behind this dossier of uncensored documents that Corbyn says prove the National Health Service will be part of trade talks with the United States, something the prime minister denies?

THOMAS: Yes he absolutely does deny it. Really the only reason the NHS is getting so much attention is because of Brexit and because of the question of the trade deal. Through the Brexit campaign, one can remember the double-decker bus making false claims about the funds that would be returned to the U.K. and to the National Health Service if they left the E.U.

Last summer when president Donald Trump was on his official state visit to the U.K., this issue came up. And I think that Jeremy Corbyn is well aware of the fact that even though this is related to Brexit, the more he can get the electoral folks to focus on domestic issues, the more he can hold Boris Johnson accountable for the nine years of Tory rule and distract some of the attention away from the issues of anti-Semitism and the other issues that have plagued this particular candidate's campaign in this general election.

So they are important issues and I think the British people have every reason to be concerned about this because it would be really quite unconscionable for a U.S. president to go into a post Brexit trade deal and not involve the pharmaceutical companies that are such a powerful lobby and such a huge industry.

And when one considers the history of the National Health Service in Britain, the number of people that are employed by it and the tremendous benefit provides the British people, the last thing they want to say U.S. style system, where millions and millions of people are uninsured or inadequately insured. And so it is important for him to focus on this here. It also fuels the narrative of distrust in Boris Johnson but he is not being up front about the real implications of Brexit and what he plans to do with the trade deal.

CHURCH: Well, Corbyn does not have very long to make his case. We will see what happens there. But while I have you I do want to just turn quickly to NATO and the Trump administration apparently intends to substantially cut its contribution to NATO's collective budget from around 22 percent to 15 percent.

And that is according to several U.S. and NATO officials.

What impact could such a move have on the transatlantic alliance?

THOMAS: Well, the impact on the transatlantic alliance has been devastating ever since President Trump was elected, not just the transatlantic alliance but the European Union.

We know he is not fond of these multilateral international organizations. In this particular case, the talk about the funding is a little bit more complicated to the extent that he is talking about the contribution to the general budget rather than specifically to the question of a shared defense.

And so it is a little bit muted in that regard. But yet again, as Donald Trump heads to an international meeting, he makes his inflammatory comments. And the irony of, course, is that NATO has become so crucial and so absolutely in need of extra financial contributions precisely to fend off what they see as an increasingly bellicose Russia.

And, yet the more Donald Trump undermines this organization the more one could argue President Putin is emboldened by this and more NATO needs these particular fund.

So yet again, as he heads an international trip, the trip will be surrounded with controversy and with negative expectations as to the outcome of what would be the 70th anniversary of this incredible organization.

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CHURCH: Dominic Thomas, we always appreciate your analysis. Many thanks.

THOMAS: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: We'll take a break now, still to come, an already hectic travel weekend with United States is getting even worse because of bad weather. The latest on the storms moving across the country, still to come.

Plus a Thanksgiving Day holiday tradition may be at risk. The big balloons of the Macy's parade may not fly if the weather is too windy.

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CHURCH: A record number of people are taking to the skies and the roads this Thanksgiving weekend in the United States but their plans could be disrupted by bad weather across the country.

The Midwest has been pounded with snow and that storm system is heading east. Meanwhile, 32 states in the U.S. are under some sort of weather advisory.

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CHURCH: Besides traveling during Thanksgiving, as you heard from Derek, Americans will also gather in front of their televisions to watch the annual Macy's parade in New York but as CNN's Brynn Gingras tells us, those weather warnings are raising concerns about some of the parade's most beloved features.

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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A million people from all over the world come out to see the inflation of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade balloon. Now it's starting to rain here so there's a little bit of dispersing of the crowd but what an incredible scene here.

And you can see most of these balloons are already blown up. We got the cat and a hat right here, we got Pikachu further down.

Now the big question everybody usually ask is, are these balloons going to fly?

There's two numbers you have to keep in mind. Twenty-three miles per hour sustained winds or 34-mile-per-hour wind gust. Those are with the NYPD and the New York Police Department truck during the entire parade to make sure these balloons are flying at a safe level.

So, they have the ability actually to raise the balloons higher up or bring them lower down to make sure that they are actually walking the parade route at a safe level. And they even have NYPD representatives walking with the Macy's day balloon handlers along the entire parade route keeping track on machines in their hands of the wind gust.

Making determinations really minute by minute. So, the big question really won't be answered until Thanksgiving Day. But certainly, that is the big question that people are still even asking as they're watching the inflation still occur.

So awesome, awesome experience even though it's raining here in New York City but still this is a family tradition that we've learned from many people around the country come to see every year -- I'm Brynn Gingras in New York for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Well, there has been international condemnation, now China's

controversial detention centers getting more attention through one teenager's effort and her story ahead.

Plus, is this the face of the U.S.-China trade war?

She is a major Huawei executive and her father runs the telecom giant. We have an exclusive interview with him about her detention.

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.

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Well, what initially looked like a teenager giving online advice about makeup has turned into global activism. The 17-year-old who was trying to call attention to China's controversial detention centers, and as Hadas Gold reports, she succeeded in getting noticed around the world.

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HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It started like one of millions of makeup tutorial videos on TikTok, but this was no ordinary beauty tip. As Feroza Aziz explained how to use an eyelash curler, she launched into a call for action, telling her viewers to educate themselves on the plight of Uyghur Muslims in Chinese internment camps.

FEROZA AZIZ, TEENAGE ADVOCATE: Hi, guys. I'm going to teach you guys how to get long lashes. So the first you need to do is grab your lash curler, curl your lashes obviously.

Then you're going to put them down and use your phone that you're using right now to search up what's happening in China, how they're getting concentration camps, throwing innocent Muslims in there.

Be aware, please spread awareness. And yes, so you're going to grab your lash curler again.

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GOLD: Beijing has long insisted that the camps are volunteer vocational training centers. However, many western nations, including the United States, have condemned them as mass detention centers, designed to eradicate weaker culture and Islamic practices.

Aziz's 42nd video went viral, with more than one million views, but now the 17-year-old says she was actually locked out of her account. She told CNN she thinks it's because she was criticizing China. And TikTok is owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance. It's one of the few Chinese apps to have actually taken off in the United States.

Well, the company said in a statement TikTok does not moderate content due to political sensitivities, but there have been long suspicions surrounding certain Chinese tech companies and how closely connected they may be to the Chinese government.

TikTok denied, though, the company banned her video or her account; and CNN was able to find the video and her account on TikTok as of Wednesday. TikTok did say, though, it banned another account owned by Aziz, because she posted a video with an image of Osama bin Laden, which they say violated their ban on content with imagery related to terrorist organizations.

The company also said that the device associated with that account was banned from the service, but Aziz says that that video was just a parody.

Concerns over TikTok's connections to China have prompted some U.S. lawmakers to request a national security assessment of the platform, saying such apps could be used to spy on U.S. citizens or become targets of foreign influence campaigns.

In a recent interview with "The New York Times," acting TikTok head Alex Zhu denied the Chinese regulators have any influence over the company. He said that for now the company was lucky people still mostly associate the app for memes and lip-synching, versus political discussion, but that could soon be changing.

Hadas Gold, CNN, London.

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CHURCH: And Feroza Aziz spoke with Isa Soares and Cyril Vanier about why she posted the video.

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AZIZ: As a Muslim American and an Afghan-American, I've seen my people be oppressed for their religion, for their nationality. I've always seen this happen. And as a human rights activist, to hear about innocent Muslims to be thrown into concentration camps by China, and for it to be -- try -- for it to be concealed by the government, it just breaks my heart.

And I know that -- I knew that as a Muslim and as an Afghan who saw my own people back in my country to suffer, and for the other Muslims around the world to be oppressed by their religion, to see it happen in China, but at such a great magnitude, I knew I had to say something.

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CHURCH: Aziz says she is shocked her video has received so much attention, and she promises to keep spreading her message.

Well, she's been called the face of the U.S.-China trade war. Come Sunday, the daughter of the founder of Huawei will have been under house arrest in Canada for exactly one year. The CFO of China's biggest telecom provider was detained at the request of the United States, accused of violating sanctions against Iran.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout traveled to Shenzhen in China for an exclusive interview with the founder of Huawei at the company's headquarters.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She has been called a pawn and a bargaining chip, even the face of the U.S.-China trade war, and the U.S. has accused her of fraud. But to the founder and CEO of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou is the daughter he praises for her year of suffering.

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REN ZHENGFEI, FOUNDER & CEO, HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES (through translator): As a father, I, of course, care about my children. However, the experience of hardship and suffering is good for Meng and her growth. Under the grand backdrop of the Chino-U.S. trade war, she is like a small ant, being caught between the collision of two giant powers.

STOUT: On December 1, 2018, Meng, the CFO of Huawei, was arrested in Canada at the request of the U.S. She and the Chinese tech giant face a number of charges, including bank fraud, trade secrets theft and sanctions violations.

Meng and Huawei both deny the charges. She is fighting extradition.

At Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen, I spoke with Meng's father about her life under house arrest, a life Meng spends in one of two homes she owns in Vancouver.

Ren Zhengfei says she enjoys painting and studying. Meng's mother and husband mother routinely fly to Canada to care for her.

(on camera): What was the last time you spoke with Meng Wanzhou, your daughter?

ZHENGFEI (through translator): Perhaps three or four days ago. There is no routine. Oftentimes, I'd send her some funny stories I found online, or I'd ring her up and ask her how she's doing.

STOUT: Have you become closer as father and daughter?

ZHENGFEI (through translator): Yes, indeed. In the past, Meng Wanzhou might not give me a single call in a whole year. She wouldn't ask how I was or even send me a text message. Of course, simply knowing that my child is out there, working really hard, already makes me happy. Now, our relationship has become much closer.

STOUT (voice-over): Days after Meng's arrest in Vancouver, diplomatic nations between China and Canada soured. China detained two Canadian citizens: former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor. China has charged them with espionage and denies their arrests are related to Meng's case.

There has been no response from Kovrig or Spavor, who according to Canadian state media, have been denied access to lawyers and their family since their arrest.

(on camera): As a father, you've been able to speak with your daughter and, in fact, your relationship has gotten closer, as you say, even though she's under house arrest.

Do you think the fathers of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, they deserve that, as well?

ZHENGFEI (through translator): I don't have any information about these two people. I also don't have information about the law enforcement in this case. That's why I cannot give any comment on this issue.

STOUT: On January the 20th, Meng Wanzhou will be in court to fight her extradition to the U.S. on fraud charges. As for her future at Huawei, one thing is certain: she won't get promoted.

ZHENGFEI (through translator): Hardships like this one will have a major impact on a person's grit and character. However, when she returns to Huawei, it doesn't mean that she'll be given greater responsibilities. She's a financial officer. She can only handle financial matters. She won't be handling other aspects of the business.

STOUT: One year of detention may have made his daughter stronger, but not strong enough to one day take the reins from the father.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Shenzhen.

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CHURCH: Russian leader Vladimir Putin is going for a new image in his 2020 calendar photos, transforming from a shirtless macho man to a more dignified statesman. We'll have the details for you in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Vladimir Putin just released his 2020 calendar, but next year's photographs show the Russian leader's image transforming from shirtless tough guy on horseback in the past to a suit-clad statement meeting world leaders.

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vladimir Putin's image- making machine kicks into high gear. The Russian president's 2020 calendar is out, predictably with pictures depicting him as a vital strongman, weightlifting with a cable pull, cuddling with a dangerous cat, and firing a high-powered rifle.

What we don't see in this year's edition, the classics. Putin shirtless. No images of a bare-chested former KGB colonel on a horse, fishing or sunbathing. ALINA POLYAKOVA, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Even, now we get these

images of Putin, you know, working out, but they're quite different. We no longer see bare-chested Putin. Putin is 67 now. We have to remember that. So maybe the era of his physical circle strength as being something to show up is also coming to an end.

TODD: On the same day we saw Putin's new pics, President Trump tweeted a superimposed image of his head on Rocky Balboa's body.

Putin decidedly more conservative, the shirtless photos replaced with scenes with him with other world leaders, like the Saudi crown prince, French President Macron and German Chancellor Merkel. And this picture of Putin walking ahead of the much taller Donald Trump, with Putin appearing deceptively tall.

Analysts say these new images are crafted to project Putin as a statesman and play on Russians' new sensibilities.

POLYAKOVA: This bare-chested nationalism, which was represented by, literally, a bare-chested Putin, is no longer really capturing the people's imagination. The Russian economy is in decline. Standards of living are slipping, and you feel that. Russian people feel that.

TODD: While Vladimir Putin doesn't flex as much physically, he still pops his military muscle. According to the Kremlin-backed news agency Interfax, the Russian military has allowed U.S. inspectors you see one of Putin's newest and most dangerous weapons, the avant-garde hypersonic missile which Putin says can fly about a mile per second.

JEFFREY EDMONDS, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR RUSSIA, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: The real challenge posed by Avangard is the speed at which it moves, and the fact that it's maneuverable. And also difficult to detect. And so you have something coming in very fast that's able to evade defenses that you may not know about until the last minute, and that really poses a certain -- a very real challenge for U.S. defenses.

TODD: The Kremlin says the Avangard, which could carry a nuclear warhead, will be ready for combat deployment by New Year's Day.

Avangard was part of a battery of sophisticated new weapons that Putin unveiled last year, including an underwater drone that could carry a nuclear warhead from a submarine. Not all of these weapons have been completed, but experts say their reflection of Putin's ambitions is unmistakable.

EDMONDS: To communicate to the United States, look, I am a nuclear peer. I am a global actor. I'm a great power, and you have to deal with me on a global stage.

TODD (on camera): Vladimir Putin has run into trouble with his ambitious new weapons program. In August, an explosion during what U.S. officials believed was a test of a missile with a small nuclear reactor on board killed five scientists and caused a brief nuclear spike. But analysts say like the North Koreans, the Russians learn from their mistakes in these tests. And those mistakes will not stop the Russian president from charging ahead and developing even more weapons that can threaten the U.S.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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CHURCH: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. WORLD SPORT is next.

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