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U.S. Winter Storm; U.S. Officials See Russian Forces Equipped with Blood Supplies; Rumors Tom Brady to Retire; Some European Nations Announce Easing of COVID-19 Measures; U.N. Security Council Wants Explanation from Russia; China Requires App to Attend Winter Games. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired January 30, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, record levels of snow are falling over the U.S. East Coast. We're tracking the storm and we'll bring you the latest.

Another NATO member says it will offer to move more troops to Eastern Europe in response to Russia's military buildup at Ukraine's border.

And the Winter Olympics are coming and, with it, concerns of Chinese censorship and monitoring. We'll examine the smartphone app at the center of the controversy.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We begin with a powerful winter storm pummeling the northeastern U.S. this weekend, unleashing blinding snow and fierce winds across much of the region. More than 2 feet of snow fell on parts of Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, shattering records in some areas.

The system moved into Maine by Saturday night and it's expected to clear out later today. Officials warn the storm may be over but the danger remains.

Residents are being urged to hunker down and stay off the roads, as cleanup crews begin digging out from the storm. CNN's Polo Sandoval is in Boston, Massachusetts, with a look at conditions there.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Getting around Boston all of the weekend has been difficult, not just driving but walking around, with many of the sidewalks still covered in snow.

Authorities here in this particular city have been working as hard as they can to make sure those walkways are clear. But it's been an uphill battle to make sure that can happen.

In the future, we're still not out of the woods when it comes to the threat from this storm. We're talking about massive amounts of snow that were dumped not just here in the city in Massachusetts but throughout the northeast.

So Sunday, we can expect obviously cleanup efforts, as crews work to clear up all of that snow that was left behind. In terms of what we saw throughout the day on Friday, forecasters had been expecting possibly historic amounts of snow to fall throughout the Northeast.

We're not going actually know whether or not that happened until we get those final numbers. But as we heard from Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker, it seems this storm did everything they expected it to. And people mainly stayed indoors.

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GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R-MA): For the most part, people have done a great job of staying home and off the roads. Thank you very much to everybody who took that particular concern of ours seriously.

It's made life dramatically easier for people who were out there removing snow. But it also means that a lot of folks weren't spending a tremendous amount of their day trying to help people who got stuck or lost or in some other terrible circumstance, as well. And that's a big deal.

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SANDOVAL: And perhaps some of the hardest hit areas, were some of those coastal regions, particularly here in Massachusetts. That's where they did experience some flooding inland and also power outages.

You can bet throughout the rest of the weekend, authorities will be working as hard as they can to make sure the power is restored to those people who are affected -- Polo Sandoval, CNN, Boston, Massachusetts.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.N. Security Council set to meet Monday to discuss the looming threat of a possible Russian invasion into Ukraine. The diplomats are hoping Russia will explain why it has amassed the biggest military buildup since the Cold War.

British prime minister Boris Johnson plans to speak this week with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The U.K. on Saturday announced it's considering offering a major military deployment to NATO in Eastern Europe.

Now Saturday did produce one modest diplomatic success. The Russian navy announced it would relocate planned naval exercises in the North Atlantic after Irish fisherman complained the warships and munitions would disrupt their fishing.

We have CNN's Melissa Bell standing by in Kyiv and Nathan Hodge joins us from Moscow.

Nathan, what's the latest?

NATHAN HODGE, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Kim, Russia's ambassador to Ireland said the Russian naval drills would be relocated as a goodwill gesture. And it's been a rare moment of levity in this rolling diplomatic standoff over Ukraine.

Earlier this week, the U.S. and NATO presented their written responses to Russia's security demands. And the Russians are now mulling those over. And the person we're waiting to see respond to that fully is Russian president Vladimir Putin, who, we're told, by the Kremlin, has reviewed those written responses and will get back to the rest of the world, essentially, on what next steps are and what Russia's official response is going to be.

His foreign minister has said that they believe that there's some common ground, perhaps, on some secondary issues. But on the big picture issue of Ukraine's having a path to joining NATO, Washington and Moscow remain very far apart.

Now U.S. officials are also warning that they see further signs that the Russian military is preparing for a possible incursion into Ukraine. And the latest that we're hearing is that officials say that the U.S. believes that there are new supplies of blood that are being delivered or pre-positioned along the Ukrainian border, in the event that there are mass casualties, in the event of military action of an offensive by Russia.

So this, in the view of U.S. officials, is one sign that there is more momentum toward a buildup, toward a possible invasion toward war.

While the Ukrainians, at least officially, are keen to avoid any sort of sense of panic by the public and have actually been somewhat at odds with these U.S. intelligence assessments, saying that they are concerned that they may be overplayed, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: That's exactly right. And that's what I want to get into with Melissa.

Still, as Nathan said, a lot of focus on the schism between U.S. and Ukraine on certain issues, which is causing a lot of friction between the two countries.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kim. And that continues. Nathan just mentioned that reporting yesterday, that there had been blood supplies and other medical supplies delivered to Russian troops amassed near the Ukrainian border. Now here in Kyiv, it is the Ukrainian deputy defense minister who

pushed back on that, taking to Facebook yesterday, saying that these are hyped-up assumptions that are being made and that it is causing panic unnecessarily, because, of course, the Ukrainian assessment is very different to what we've been hearing from the United States.

We've heard it from President Zelensky, we've heard it from the defense minister speaking to parliament on Thursday, all of them saying that their assessment is that the danger posed by Russian troops and their movements are really not that different to what they would have been just under a year ago.

So a very big difference.

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BELL: And of course, going back that American official that Nathan was just alluding to, he's been pointing out that one can understand that President Zelensky wants to avoid panic at home and damage to his economy.

But also this is a president -- and you hear that from the people here, who of course, are used to living with this. This is a threat they've lived with since 2014, with a front line that's been active.

Somehow getting more -- hotter or colder, goes up or down, the tensions rise and fall but it is a constant they've come to live with. And President Zelensky saying, sure, threat may be imminent but it is also constant.

And that gives you an idea of the difference of perspective. One understands the American strategy. And it's one that we'll hear about more when we hear about what happens to the Security Council on Monday.

The Americans trying to emphasize the danger, the threat that is faced by Ukraine in order, partly, to focus the minds of NATO allies and to get the kind of commitment, like the one we've heard from the British prime minister, of extra troops, extra resources toward NATO's eastern flank.

That unity establishing, getting together that unity has been the American administration's priority. Of course, the danger is that Ukraine also has a voice in this and will also give its assessment. And it is very different from the one that we've been hearing from the United States, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much, Nathan Hodge in Moscow and Melissa Bell in Kyiv, really appreciate it.

North Korea is raising the stakes with its suspected seventh missile test this month. Pyongyang apparently launched an intermediate range ballistic missile Sunday, which landed in the waters east of the Korean Peninsula. Experts say North Korea hasn't tested that kind of missile in nearly five years. Will Ripley is in Taipei for us.

So Will, take us through why this latest launch is raising eyebrows and fears.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the biggest fear -- and this was expressed earlier today by South Korean president Moon Jae-in -- it was 2017 that North Korea launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles, most recently in November of 2017.

After that, there was this self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile launches and nuclear testing, to coincide with the Korean detente, that period of diplomacy between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former U.S. President Donald Trump.

That clearly is now over, done with. And North Korea is ratcheting up the tensions, just days before the opening ceremonies of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. And so we've seen them this month launch short- range ballistic missiles, not only from the ground but also from a rail car.

We've seen them launch cruise missiles. And now this intermediate range ballistic missile, that traveled to an altitude of 2,000 kilometers. That's more than 1,200 miles high. This thing went up into outer space and came down into the waters between Korea and Japan.

But what North Korea haven't demonstrated yet is their ability to strike a target anywhere in the world; most specifically, anywhere in the mainland United States. An intercontinental ballistic missile test, the kind of which we haven't seen in nearly five years, could certainly prove that.

Or a nuclear test could prove that they continue to enrich uranium, that allows them to produce nuclear weapons. And it's believed that Kim Jong-un has been growing his nuclear arsenal this whole time, albeit quietly.

But now he's not quiet. He has said that he is considering suspending all previously suspended testing, which could mean long-range missile launches. And North Korea has said, in response to additional sanctions imposed by the Biden administration, that their response is only going to get stronger and stronger.

So Kim, could this mean that, during the Olympics, a global sporting event meant to symbolize peace, happening next door in China, their neighbor, their benefactor, their patron, North Korea, could they be about to try to insert themselves into the global narrative by conducting a test so big, so provocative, that, even during the games, nobody will have a chance to ignore North Korea?

Everybody could be talking about North Korea, which may be exactly what Kim Jong-un wants.

The question, how is the Biden administration going to respond to this and further provocations?

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's the question. Will Ripley in Taipei, thanks so much. All right. There's much more ahead here on CNN.

Could it be the end of an era in the NFL?

Has Tom Brady played his last game?

New details on the superstar's possible retirement.

Plus protesters erupt in Canada over requirements for truck drivers. We'll have that and more COVID-19 news coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Reports suggest that Tom Brady is set to retire but the legendary American football quarterback hasn't released a statement himself.

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BRUNHUBER: COVID-19 deaths are on the rise in the U.S., with Johns Hopkins University reporting more than 2,200 daily fatalities recently. But there are some signs of hope.

Daily numbers for new infections and hospitalizations are dropping. And 77 percent of Americans received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. The governor of New York says the state's COVID cases dropped 86 percent in the last three weeks. Hospitalizations are also down nearly 40 percent.

But scientists are watching an Omicron spin-off variant called BA.2. It's been detected in dozens of countries, including the U.S. Right now, though, experts say there isn't a reason for alarm.

Well, it was a noisy day in the Canadian capital on Saturday.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Crowds packed Parliament Hill in Ottawa to protest cross-border vaccine requirements for truck drivers along with all COVID-19 related mandates. Police were on alert after reports of violent rhetoric but things remained largely peaceful. About 90 percent of Canada's truckers are already vaccinated.

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BRUNHUBER: Austria is joining the list of several European nations who have announced the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, even though infections there are still high. Opening hours of restaurants and shops will be extended and the

maximum number of people at events will be increased.

Meanwhile, the number of serious infections in Israel is on the rise. But still a COVID expert claims that the country has already passed its Omicron peak.

We're now joined by CNN's Hadas Gold in Jerusalem but, first, let's go to our Scott McLean in London.

So a continuation of a trend we've been seeing in some European countries; cases high or even rising but restrictions falling.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a weird paradox here, Kim, you're right. Cases are really hitting record highs in many places. But as you said, restrictions are going the opposite way. They are getting looser.

And so you mentioned Austria; yesterday, the Austrian chancellor said that, while the mask mandate for crowded places is going to stick around, the rules around the curfew are getting looser and the rules around the number of people allowed at a gathering are getting looser as well.

Austria is even making things easier for the unvaccinated. And remember, Austria has not been kind to vaccine holdouts. They've been under a stay-at-home order since November.

So while the vaccine mandate for the entire country will start being enforced in mid-March, well, two weeks from now, the unvaccinated will be allowed to go back to restaurant and bars, provided that they can show a negative test.

Remember, this is happening at a time where Austria is hitting record highs for case counts, with no signs of slowing down. That is also the case in many other places in Europe, places like Sweden, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic and Turkey.

In Turkey, though, they are not panicking, not in the slightest. The health minister tweeted yesterday that the virus is not as strong as it used to be; the alarming period of the epidemic is now over. The world's agenda is returning to normal.

And if you ask Danish leaders, well, they agree. Despite the fact that that country has never seen so many COVID infections at once, they are getting rid of virtually all restrictions come Tuesday.

It's a similar story here in the U.K. Case counts are pretty high but almost all restrictions are gone. There are still mask mandates in many places. Many businesses don't want to go back to living like it was 2019. Many countries in Eastern Europe don't have the luxury of that.

If you look at Russia, for instance, they are also recording record high case counts and they say it's hitting children particularly high there. They're going back to remote schooling in many places and perhaps for good.

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MCLEAN: So many people are unvaccinated in Russia. In fact, less than half of the population is fully vaccinated there. And remember, the worst -- the deadliest part of the pandemic didn't come two years ago, Kim; it actually just came two months ago in Russia.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting, high case counts in Russia.

High case counts in Israel, as well.

And, Hadas, so what's leading a top expert there to make that bold claim that Israel has likely passed its Omicron peak?

Well, Kim, let's start with the bad news, is that the serious cases, people who are in hospital in serious condition, have passed more than 1,000 people. That's a record -- the last record for it was last January; at the peak, it was 1,175 people were hospitalized in serious condition. And they are expecting those cases to go up.

So it's very possible that, in the next few weeks, Israel will break its own record of people hospitalized in serious condition.

But now the good news. One of the top government COVID advisers, Professor Eran Segal, says that Israel has reached the peak of the Omicron wave. That peak was likely last week, when, in one day, more than 76,000 positive cases were recorded.

And keep in mind, that doesn't include the tens of thousands of likely home tests that people do, that are not recorded in the official system. Now the professor says that that is likely the peak and that the infection rates are going to now go down.

He estimates that the end of this wave, almost one in two Israelis, almost 50 percent of the population, will have been infected with the Omicron variant. That goes to show you just how absolutely infectious this variant is.

But Israel is pushing forward. Schools are remaining open. Shops, restaurants, everything is open. And they are pushing forward with the fourth vaccine. Late last week, Israel greatly expanded the eligibility for the fourth vaccine.

Until now, since January, you had to be over the age of 60 or immunocompromised or a health care worker in order to get the fourth dose. Now a lot more people can get it. You can be over 18, with an underlying condition, caring for somebody with an underlying condition or have a job that puts you at risk for infection.

And you can self-define, essentially, whether you get the fourth vaccine. And it has to be more than four months after your third dose.

Israel saying they are making this recommendation because of data. They examined those 400,000 people over the age of 60, who received the fourth dose in January. And they say they found more than double the protection in protection and more than a threefold increase in protection against serious disease.

BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much. Hadas Gold in Jerusalem.

Russia claims it doesn't want war with Ukraine but its actions suggest it's moving toward armed conflict. Coming up, we'll take a look at how both sides measure up after modernizing their forces.

Plus, cooler heads prevail after Russian war games raised tensions with Ireland. We'll explain how a group of fisherman played a role. That's next. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: (INAUDIBLE).

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-- Russia will explain why it has amassed an unprecedented number of troops near the Ukrainian border. The U.S. and NATO allies have been sending ammunition, weapons and other equipment to Ukraine to beef up the country's defenses.

U.S. President Joe Biden says he'll soon deploy up to 8,500 American troops to reinforce NATO operations in Eastern Europe. One Democratic lawmaker tells CNN that Congress needs to be ready to act if Russian aggression continues.

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REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA), MEMBER, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: There's a bill that Senator Menendez, in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has put forth. And it is a very strong rebuke to Russia, if they are to do any kind of an invasion or cyber ops or try to topple the Ukrainian government.

Then the sanctions that are in that bill would automatically go into place. And those sanctions are heavy duty.

Putin, all of his assets, wherever they are around the world, frozen; Russian banks, frozen; access to the international currency market, gone.

Frankly, the Senate and the House need to get on with it and pass that legislation to strengthen President Biden's hand and also to strengthen the hand and to strengthen the will of Ukraine and to give Putin some very serious kickback, should he try anything.

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BRUNHUBER: Now no one thinks that a conflict between Russia and Ukraine would be an evenly matched fight. But each side is a lot stronger than it was even a few years ago. Think of the Russian military and images like this come to mind, tanks rolling across Red Square, accompanied by missiles on flatbeds, much like it was in the Soviet era.

Another holdover from that period: reports of conscripts fleeing their posts. Despite being a global power, the Russian army was notorious for being underequipped and mismanaged.

Well, much less so now. Russian president Vladimir Putin, in recent years, has launched an aggressive effort to modernize his country's military. It relies more on professional soldiers across all ranks, backed by sophisticated, high-tech weaponry.

Their tactics honed on front lines in Syria and elsewhere. The annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the fight against separatists in the Donbas laid bare problems with Ukraine's military as well.

It, too, was hobbled by corruption and inadequate hardware but now they're backed with billions of dollars in military assistance from the U.S., with more coming in this week.

Earlier I spoke with retired Brigadier General Peter Zwack. He was in Moscow as a senior U.S. Defense official and attache during the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. He's now a Wilson Center global fellow at the Kennan Institute. I asked him to describe the changes in terms of quality on both sides. Here he is.

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BRIG. GEN. PETER ZWACK, KENNAN INSTITUTE: The Russian force is, indeed, formidable and has gone through continual upgrades.

Its artillery, especially its long-range multiple rocket launchers, can reach out 40, 50, 60 miles. And can outrange in this sense, anything that the -- outrange in number anything the Ukrainians -- the Ukrainians have capable artillery but the Russians have so much of it.

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ZWACK: Russians tanks, yes, they have some late-model tanks. But they're still fundamentally T-72, what they call B-3s, which go back a generation in technology.

But upgraded, modernized, very capable. But a Javelin could take it out, for example, you know, if we talk about those technologies. The airpower, that will be a big difference, because the Russians in 2014- 2015, during the first invasion, officially weren't in Ukraine.

And in the battles for Eastern Ukraine, with the separatists and Ukrainian military, they couldn't fly Red Star Russian aircraft. They couldn't play their hand. Now they will fly that.

But the Ukrainians have learned, too, the Ukrainians have, in some sense, have fought the Russians, have bled, have stopped them in places and seem if they feel -- if they don't feel forsaken, they will put up a fight, a significant fight. And they have learned a lot.

And the Ukrainian military is far better at their quarter million than this ad hoc battle groups of 2014 and 2015.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, as NATO struggles to get Russia to change course near Ukraine, a group of fisherman may have succeeded near Ireland. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan reports on how war games by the Russian navy were pushed further out to sea.

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DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Here in Castletownbere, a fishing village at the southern tip of Ireland, fisherman have been making international headlines all week for standing up to Russia.

They learned that the Russian navy would be conducting military drills, operations, in the sea about 150 miles off the coast of Ireland here later this week. The fishermen were concerned about that, because they said it would disrupt their livelihoods, it would disrupt the fish stock.

And the fisherman told the Russian ambassador here in Ireland that they planned on going about their business, that they planned on continuing fishing, even through these drills.

The Russian ambassador suggested that that would be unwise, even dangerous for the fisherman to do that. But a change in tone tonight from the Russian embassy.

Here's a statement that they put out, saying in response to requests from the Irish government, as well as from the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organization, that is the fishermen, the Russian ministry of defense has made a decision as a gesture of goodwill to relocate the exercise by the Russian navy planned for this week outside the Irish exclusive economic zone, with the aim not to hinder fishing activities by the Irish vessels in the traditional fishing areas.

What that means, essentially, is that these Russian boats will be doing these exercises further away from the Irish coast. We were here, speaking with fisherman all day. And we were here when that news broke late on Saturday evening, here in Ireland. And here was the reaction from one of the fisherman.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shocked, really. We didn't think that little old us in the Irish South and West would have an impact on international diplomacy and make an impact like that.

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O'SULLIVAN: And so, as you can hear there, a real win for David in this David versus Goliath story. Obviously, also, the Russian embassy pointing out that the Irish government had approached them about moving their boats further offshore -- Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Castletownbere, Ireland.

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BRUNHUBER: Olympic athletes and others may have a reason to worry about their personal data during the Beijing games. We'll explain why this app has some people buying burner phones, coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: China is requiring that anyone attending the upcoming Winter Olympics download a smartphone app. It's called MY2022. Beijing says it's meant to monitor people's health and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. But it's raising concern among several security experts and athletes planning to attend the games.

The Citizen Lab is a cybersecurity watchdog group. Earlier this month, it reported finding that the app had several flaws linked to weak encryption technology. Now Chinese Olympics officials say that the app's latest version has patched several of those security gaps.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In fact, the security loopholes have already been fixed. If they existed in earlier versions, they have been fixed in the latest version. The loopholes mentioned by The Citizen Lab do not exist anymore.

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BRUNHUBER: The Citizen Lab also revealed that the app collects a range of highly sensitive personal information. This included health customs forms, passport details, demographic info and medical and travel history.

Now it's not unusual for Olympians to provide this type of info when participating in the games but all attendees are required to have the app, including journalists and officials. And it's unclear who might have access to that information outside of the Beijing Organizing Committee.

The app also has a long list of censored terms, more than 2,400 in all. According to The Citizen Lab report, that includes words like "Tibet," "Holy Quran" and "Dalai Lama."

And all of this has many nations advising their athletes to bring burner devices to use while in Beijing. Our next guest is doing exactly that, taking burner devices with him

when he heads to Beijing. James Griffiths is our former colleague at CNN and he's also author of the book, "The Great Firewall Of China," which explains how Beijing controls what Chinese people can see on the internet.

Thanks so much for being with us, James. So we've outlined in broad strokes the concerns here. Take us through what worries you most about this app and the way it's being used.

JAMES GRIFFITHS, "THE GLOBE AND MAIL": Thanks, Kim. It's great to be here. Yes, there's quite a lot of concern about this app just because of the amount of data that it requires people to fill in. This is, you know, designed as a centralized space that you put all of your various health data that you have to provide, to clear COVID checks, your passport stuff, your flights, things like that.

And when you're gathering that amount of data, there's always going to be a concern about how that's handled. And then especially when we're talking about the Chinese government, there's going to be other concerns.

And one of the things that Citizen Lab flagged is not so much that the app was necessarily doing anything nefarious but actually that it wasn't very well built and it wasn't particularly secure, which raised kind of even more concerns --

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GRIFFITHS: -- because of the sheer amount of people that were going to head into Beijing and the sheer amount of data that was going onto this app, what's going to happen to it all?

Is it going to be secure and is there anything to be concerned about if you're one of those people that's putting that in?

BRUNHUBER: You've heard officials say they've addressed some of the security concerns. They say that the app is similar to the one used at the last Olympics in Tokyo.

GRIFFITHS: Yes and, to a certain extent, the app, I think, is a slight bit of a red herring when we're talking about security at these Olympics, because the real concern for people coming into the country, especially maybe more so for journalists and officials than perhaps athletes, is having to clear the Chinese border, clear Chinese customs, where you might have to hand over devices or have devices searched, having to use Chinese networks the entire time you are in China.

And there are serious surveillance concerns. Beijing itself is a very surveilled city. The Olympic Village will perhaps be even more surveilled for COVID reasons. So there are all of these other kind of concerns, which aren't anything necessarily to do with this app but are another good reason to have burner devices that have no personal data on them and no sensitive data of any kind. BRUNHUBER: And then, looking at the issue of censorship, as we

explained there, there are other terms that are censored, might be flagged but it wouldn't actively stop anyone from raising concerns about sensitive subjects, as I understand it.

Explain to us the worry about how it might be used to deter those who want to speak out about human rights issues.

GRIFFITHS: Yes, so again, it's not really clear what this censorship list is doing in the app. There is some messaging function. I think this is more to do with, that's the way Chinese apps are built. You really need to have that censorship stuff built in, because if it turns out you have set up a messaging thing that doesn't have that, you might be able to get in trouble with the Chinese government.

The Chinese have been very clear in the run-up to the Olympics that there won't be censorship of athletes online, people will be able to upload things to Twitter, Instagram and other services that are blocked in China.

What's a concern is there has been some language from Chinese officials about, you know, protecting free speech within a certain limit. And then they have been putting slightly concerning caveats on, just what that means, and suggesting that some things that people do in Beijing could potentially breach Chinese law.

What that is, we don't necessarily know yet but we imagine, if someone was to stage some sort of protest or use the platform that they gain at the Olympics to share a lot of sensitive material from China's perspective, that that could get them into hot water with the Beijing government.

BRUNHUBER: Not surprisingly. Olympic athletes might feel that they have, you know, bigger worries going into this competition.

Do you get a sense that they're taking this issue seriously?

GRIFFITHS: You know, we've seen from a number of athletes that they've been speaking openly about the fact that their organizing committees have told them to take burner devices and be careful about what they do in China.

China is a very heavily surveilled country. They're using an internet that is very, very controlled, even if certain restrictions have been lifted for foreigners while they're in Beijing for the Olympics. And so there is always going to be that concern.

I think from an athlete's perspective, they maybe not be too worried, because they might think, you know, am I really a target for Beijing?

Am I -- am I doing anything that is worth surveilling by the Chinese state?

I think the concern maybe is more for, especially for journalists going into the games and, you know, for the limited number of government officials that are going in as well. BRUNHUBER: Well, human rights activists have been calling for

athletes to speak out about human rights. So it will be interesting to see whether they do and, if they do, whether they will be heard. Listen, thank you, James Griffiths, really appreciate your insights on this.

GRIFFITHS: Thanks for having me.

BRUNHUBER: All right, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a Spaniard is battling it out right now with a Russian in the Australian Open men's final. A live update is next. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A compelling battle is happening right now in the men's final of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal is hoping to make history with a record 21st grand slam title. But the reigning Open champ, Daniil Medvedev, is no pushover. The Russian powered through the first set, overwhelming Nadal, six games to two.

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[04:55:00]

I'm Kim Brunhuber and I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Please do stay with us.