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U.S. Warns Again Russian Invasion Possible "At Any Time"; ITA Confirms Russian Olympic Skater Failed Drug Test; Paris on High Alert as "Freedom Convoy" Approaches; Investigation into Kabul Airport Bombing; French President Emmanuel Macron Backpedals on Nuclear Energy Pledge. Aired 2-2:40a ET
Aired February 12, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to viewers joining us from around the world, I'm Lynda Kinkade. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM --
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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time should Vladimir Putin decide to order it.
KINKADE (voice-over): A new warning from the U.S., as President Biden prepares to speak with Russian president Vladimir Putin later today to find some middle ground.
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KINKADE (voice-over): Plus, a 15-year-old Russian ice skater, facing suspension as a doping scandal takes center stage at the Olympics.
And how the Canadian trucker protest is inspiring similar movements around the world.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: U.S. and NATO allies believe that Russia has amassed enough troops and weapons, to launch a devastating attack against Ukraine, at a moment's notice. More than 100,000 Russian combat forces have taken up positions encircling more than half of Ukraine, from Belarus in the north, to the annexed Crimea in the south.
The U.S. and other countries, urging citizens to leave Ukraine now, while they still can; 3,000 additional U.S. forces have been sent to neighboring Poland to assist with the evacuations.
With Beijing now hosting the Winter Olympics, generally, it was thought that Moscow would not launch an invasion of Ukraine until the games were over. U.S. officials now fear it could happen much sooner. CNN's MJ Lee, has more, from the White House.
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SULLIVAN: We are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time, should Vladimir Putin decide to order it.
MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Growing urgency at the White House, the looming threat of a Russia invasion of Ukraine.
SULLIVAN: We continue to see signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border.
LEE (voice-over): National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan appearing at this afternoon's White House press briefing, confirming that Vladimir Putin could launch an attack even sooner than, previously, anticipated.
SULLIVAN: There is a credible prospect that a Russian military action would take place even before the end of the Olympics.
LEE (voice-over): This, a contrast from prior assessments that Russia was unlikely to invade before the conclusion of the Olympics. The U.S. now making this chilling prediction about what a Russian invasion would look like.
SULLIVAN: If a Russian attack on Ukraine proceeds, it is likely to begin with aerial bombing and missile attacks that could obviously kill civilians without regard to their nationality. A subsequent ground invasion would involve the onslaught of a massive force.
LEE (voice-over): Sullivan warning in no uncertain terms American citizens in Ukraine must leave now.
SULLIVAN: Any American in Ukraine should leave as soon as possible and in any event in the next 24 to 48 hours. If you stay, you are assuming risk with no guarantee that there will be any other opportunity to leave and there's no prospect of a U.S. military evacuation in the event of a Russian invasion.
LEE (voice-over): The past 24 hours, filled with a frenzy of activity at the highest levels of the U.S. government. President Biden convening a call with world leaders earlier today to discuss the escalating situation on the Russia-Ukraine border.
Biden joining his top national security advisers in the Situation Room Thursday night in an abruptly scheduled meeting. The president spending the weekend at Camp David.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president will be at Camp David, which is fully equipped to have engagements of all sorts, including with his national security team or European counterparts.
LEE (voice-over): And expected to speak with Putin on the phone on Saturday. LEE: Now that phone call with Vladimir Putin is the latest sign that the U.S. is still trying to go the route of diplomacy.
The last time that President Biden spoke with Vladimir Putin was in December. But we have heard so often from the president and others around him, that they do believe Vladimir Putin is basically unpredictable and that it is virtually impossible to try to get in his head -- MJ Lee, CNN, the White House.
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KINKADE: CNN's Alex Marquardt is in Ukraine, just hours away from the front lines, with pro-Russian separatists. He filed this report just a short time ago.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The level of alarm that we are hearing from Ukrainian officials on what may be the cusp of a Russian invasion of their country is not nearly the same as what we are hearing from the White House.
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MARQUARDT (voice-over): And that is in keeping with what we have seen over the course of the past few weeks, in terms of a difference in messaging between Kyiv and Washington, D.C. That does not mean that Ukrainian officials are dismissing the prospect of a Russian invasion.
They are seeing the same intelligence as the U.S. and the rest of NATO. But they have been trying hard to keep their population calm.
We have heard from a Ukrainian official, who is close to the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who tells CNN that the situation is really serious and uncertain.
One of the more stark messages that we have heard is from the mayor of Kyiv, the capital city that was named by the national security adviser of the United States as one of the potential early targets for the Russians.
The Kyiv mayor saying that they are taking steps to protect critical infrastructure. He says that evacuation plans are being put in place, that generators to power electricity have been installed and that there are more than 5,000 shelters in case of a bombing campaign by the Russians, which could indeed come.
The number of shelters growing in recent years. The Ukrainian government has also warned of potential provocations by the Russians, a made-up pretext to justify an invasion. This is also something that the United States and others have warned could be coming.
Now there is still some daylight between Ukraine and Western countries as countries like the U.S. and the United Kingdom tell their citizens that they need to leave Ukraine and draw down nonessential members of their embassies. A spokesman for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky saying that the
security situation has not changed enough to justify that just yet.
And in the streets of Ukraine, we're also seeing a bit of daylight about the expectation of what could happen, both in Kyiv and here in Dnipro in central Ukraine. People are out and about. On a Friday night, they were in restaurants, in bars and cafes.
When I spoke to several people here in town, they said they are not thinking about what the Russians may do; they are going about their lives as normal. Of course, that could change the very second that Russia crosses their borders -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.
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KINKADE: Susan Glasser joins me now, a CNN global affairs analyst and a staff writer for "The New Yorker."
Good to have you with us, Susan.
SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thank you so much, Lynda.
KINKADE: So there seems to be a growing urgency here in the U.S. and also in Europe today, with nationals in Ukraine being told to leave.
Do you see signs of an imminent attack or some sort of either full invasion or perhaps some sort of action in the east in the Donbas?
GLASSER: Look, they're very clear messages coming out of Washington and the Biden White House today, essentially saying there is no path forward at the moment for diplomacy.
They seem to really have moved their communications around this to a different level, urgently telling Americans in Ukraine to leave within the next 24 to 48 hours. What we see is also a number of European governments, as well as Israel, telling its diplomats to leave or close up at least part of their shops.
That's something they hadn't done before. So I do think what we are seeing is certainly a very different communications strategy and a sense that all of the military assets that would be needed for military action are now on hand, according to the American government.
KINKADE: I'd love to get your perspective, Susan, on what you make of the fact that the U.S. intentionally declassifying and releasing intel on what it thinks Russia might do to provoke a response.
Is it doing that in an effort to deter Russia?
It seems quite an unusual tactic.
GLASSER: I agree. I think it's very unusual. And it's certainly -- first of all, it's a big departure from how the Biden team handled the very first foreign policy crisis of the new administration in Afghanistan.
They seem to be certainly correcting or even potentially overcorrecting in the other direction and getting out in front of the warnings they're receiving in real time.
There is a real interesting divergence between what you're hearing from the U.S. government and what you're hearing from the Ukrainian government itself, which has been consistently downplaying the threat.
You could argue that, of course, it's much more potentially destabilizing for the government in Ukraine, that there is a concern about causing panic and the like. But I haven't seen anything like what we are seeing out of Washington in terms of the real-time communication of information.
Perhaps they think that they are simply exposing Russian machinations in hopes of forestalling them. That's another scenario here. But not yet is it clear.
KINKADE: Yes, I mean, you have to wonder what the next move will be from Vladimir Putin.
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KINKADE: I mean, would he invest this much effort, move so many troops in and then back down?
What are the risks of him doing something simply because he can't look like he's doing nothing?
GLASSER: Well, you know, look, I don't think that he has left himself a lot of room for climbing down here, not only assembling this enormous and very costly invasion force on the borders of Ukraine.
But the demands that he's made on the United States, on the West and on Ukraine are essentially nonnegotiable demands. And I mean nonnegotiable, not on the part of Russia per se but on the part of the West.
You know, there is no scenario under which the Biden administration is going to be negotiating over turning back the clock, even if they wanted to. That's not something that's possible.
When NATO expanded in 1997 -- that's not the reason that Vladimir Putin is really at the borders of Ukraine today. And it's certainly not within Biden's power or anyone else to tell Poland that they shouldn't be a member of NATO, when this is exactly the reason, something like this invasion, force why Poland (ph) any other countries wanted to be a part of NATO.
So I just never saw that Putin was outlining something that seemed like a real viable negotiation. So in that sense, it's hard to see him just walking away and claiming victory.
KINKADE: And so, what are the potential political costs for Putin, if he takes no action and backs down? GLASSER: Well, you know, that's the other interesting thing, is that it's hard to see a scenario where he can just claim victory. But the flip side is, actually going forward with a military invasion of Ukraine, I think it's fair to say, it's potentially catastrophic for Vladimir Putin.
And the cost on the Russian people would be very high indeed, not just in terms of the sanctions but you know, militarily. I think there's real potential risks in the longer term to Putin's government inside Russia.
So he has embarked on a high-stakes gamble here, that does seem somewhat out of keeping with what we've seen of Vladimir Putin for the previous 20 years. This is a very, very high-stakes game at this point, either way.
KINKADE: Susan Glasser, as always, great to get your analysis. Appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
GLASSER: Thank you very much.
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KINKADE: We are turning now to Beijing and the doping scandal that is overshadowing competition on ice at the Winter Games. The International Testing Agency confirming Friday, a Russian figure skater failed a drug test ahead of the games. Officials say they should have a resolution to the case by Tuesday. CNN's Selina Wang has more.
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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kamila Valieva has lit up the world of figure skating, leading a Russian team to gold on Monday at the Beijing Olympics, an honor that could still be taken away after the team tested positive to a banned substance for before the games, the heart medication trimetazidine.
DR. ELIZABETH MURRAY, PEDIATRIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIAN: What this drug does is actually kind of make your heart work more efficiently and it doesn't change your blood pressure very much or change your heart rate.
So an athlete wouldn't get jittery or necessarily feel all that different but they would theoretically be able to perform at a higher level for longer. So it would increase their endurance potentially.
WANG (voice-over): Confirming the apparent doping violation on Friday, the International Testing Agency pointed to a protected status as a minor, as to why they delayed naming her.
And because she is only 15, it's unclear what kind of penalty she might face if any. Other athletes, like men's singles gold medalist Nathan Chen of the U.S., watching closely.
NATHAN CHEN, U.S. FIGURE SKATING GOLD MEDALIST: Certainly, you know, as athletes you want to be able to have as fair of a playing field as possible.
WANG (voice-over): In a statement Friday, the ITA said the sample that later tested positive was taken on Christmas Day last year, in St. Petersburg, by Russian officials and processed in a lab in Stockholm accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. But it said the test result was only reported after Valieva had competed in the team event here.
Almost immediately after the results became known, Russia's Anti- Doping Agency suspended her from their Olympic team but then overturned that the next day after she appealed.
Now the ITA says the International Olympic Committee is challenging Russia in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, while the Russian Olympic Committee says she's tested negative before December 25th and after arrival in China and should be able to compete and claim her team gold medal.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: If people tune in on Tuesday and if she is competing, what a travesty that will be, what a tainted competition that will be. Someone who has tested positive for a performance enhancing drug, competing in the Olympics, when everyone knows that she has tested positive. That would be a first.
WANG (voice-over): That legal process eating up precious time here at the Olympics. Valieva allowed to practice as her singles event grows closer.
WANG: All eyes will be on this venue on Tuesday to see if Valieva will be able to take the ice. This doping scandal is overshadowing the premier event of the Winter Olympics. It's diminishing Valieva's phenomenal athleticism and once again putting the spotlight on Russia's history of state-sponsored cheating.
WANG (voice-over): It's no small matter. The medals for the team figure skating event, that ceremony has been postponed while we wait to see if Valieva's team will lose their medals. The ROC says it is taking measures to keep its, quote, "honestly-won Olympic gold medal." But if they lose it, Chen's U.S. team would move from silver to gold.
CHEN: The medals ceremony is definitely a very special part of the Olympics. And for those that, you know, should get a medal, I truly hope that they can. Just having had the experience in 2018 and being able to be a part of a team collectively standing on the podium together is a really, really special moment.
So you know, whatever happens, happens. But I do hope that we will have this opportunity to share as a team.
WANG (voice-over): The ITA warned Friday that a decision on whether the team from Russia keeps its gold medals could take time and that might not allow for a team medal ceremony at all -- Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
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KINKADE: Thousands of law enforcement personnel, now patrolling the streets of Paris. The French capital is on high alert, ahead of planned anti-vaccination protests. We will have the latest in just a moment.
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KINKADE: It was a noisy scene in northern France on Friday.
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KINKADE (voice-over): Scores of protesters, demonstrating against vaccine requirements and pandemic restrictions. Despite the fact that masks will no longer mandatory indoors, in many places, starting February 28th. Paris is on high alert, as the French version of the so-called freedom convoy moves toward the capital.
More than 7,000 law enforcement personnel are being deployed for the weekend when protests are expected to take place.
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KINKADE: The inspiration comes from Canada, where Windsor police warn they could start making arrests. That is after demonstrators appear to ignore a judge's order to stop blocking a bridge, that is a critical link between the U.S. and Canada.
The injunction was issued in the hope of ending the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international crossing in North America. The convoy has slowed the movement of vital goods across the border for the past two weeks with their protest against vaccine mandates.
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KINKADE: Joining me now is David Hoffman. He's an associate professor of sociology, criminology and criminal justice at the University of New Brunswick.
David, thanks so much for joining us.
DAVID HOFFMAN, UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK: It's my pleasure.
KINKADE: So of the 120,000 truckers who cross the border, about 90 percent are already vaccinated. That's according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance. It claims that most people are, quote, "do not have a connection to the trucking industry." Who then are they?
HOFFMAN: So the individuals who are currently occupying Ottawa, as well as several other cities in Canada, are largely anti-vaxers. They've glommed onto and essentially have championed the cause of the truckers, without any sort of affiliation with the truckers' convoy, although there are truckers there.
So this is essentially an opportunity that these protesters have taken to push the anti-vax mandate, largely fueled by interest groups also in Canada as well as internationally. So this is a movement, essentially, that's being funded and being driven by several interest groups aside from the trucking industry.
KINKADE: And, David, I understand that you specifically study extremists and extremism in Canada.
How strong and active are these groups in Canada in general?
HOFFMAN: So Canada doesn't have the same sort of problem with violent far-right movements that the United States historically has had. However, a study in 2015 located about 100 active groups in Canada.
And a study I'm currently involved with, a follow-up to this study, has noted about 300 active groups since 2016 as well as American paramilitary movements or paramilitary style movements in every single Canadian province since 2016, which is something we've historically not had, which is a concern for public safety.
The government of Canada has tried to crack down on some of these movements, particularly with the 3 Percenter movement, an American style paramilitary movement that was declared a terrorist organization in Canada earlier in 2021. However, the growth has been exponential since 2016.
KINKADE: And, you know, we are hearing here in the U.S. the right-wing media essentially egging on the protests and calling for the same south of the border.
Will we see those sorts of protests here in the United States?
And, if so, what sort of impact would it have?
HOFFMAN: So what scholars like myself and scholars of other forms of extremism have noted is that these types of groups gain momentum from what they see as success, as we've seen it in reverse actually with post-2017, with the Charlottestown (sic).
There was a great deal of energy and activism amongst the far right in the United States after president Trump declared that there were good people on both sides. What we saw here in Canada, in the weeks that followed, is major far-right protests in every single city.
So the global aspects of the far-right movement tend to stay connected to and gain energy from what they see as successes. And, undoubtedly, what has happened here in Canada and in Ottawa, is seen as a success. We've already seen copycat movements in Australia, in New Zealand and
other countries. So I would be surprised if there wasn't some sort of attempt at replication in the United States.
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HOFFMAN: In terms of the consequences, other than the destruction to the daily lives of citizens in Ottawa, there is damage to trade in the sense that the truckers are blocking major land access points across the border, costing something -- the last statistic I read is something around $33-$34 million of trade per day.
And if similar efforts are made, in the American context, I suspect that they would target trade groups as well, which has the potential to damage the economy.
KINKADE: All right, Professor David Hoffman, we will leave it there for now. It's really good to get your perspective. Thanks so much for your time.
HOFFMAN: It's my pleasure.
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KINKADE: Well, U.S. and Russian leaders are set to speak later today, as tensions ramp up over Ukraine. While the two presidents prepare to talk, U.S. troops work to send a message to their allies in the region.
Plus, we will tell you about reports of Westerners arrested and held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, as the U.S. moves to make desperately needed funds available to the people.
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KINKADE: The U.S. secretary of state is warning that the situation on Ukraine's border has reached a pivotal moment.
Antony Blinken says the U.S. and its allies will quickly slap Moscow with severe economic sanctions if it invades. He will speak with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Saturday before Presidents Biden and Putin hold their own call.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is deploying several thousands more troops to Europe, including to Romania, to pressure (sic) NATO allies. Fred Pleitgen has more.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As Russia has just kicked off massive military drills with Belarus right on the border with Ukraine, the U.S. is not backing down, sending an additional 1,000 troops from the Second Cavalry Regiment to Romania.
LT. COL. BENJAMIN NAGY, U.S. ARMY: Our mission is to reassure the allies and show faith that we're here to support and deter aggression.
PLEITGEN: The reinforcements are only part of a larger deployment of thousands of troops ordered by President Biden.
That also includes additional combat aircraft, both for air policing and for deterrence.
With the deployment of forces here to Romania, the U.S. says it wants to send a clear message to allies and adversaries, that the U.S. remains fully committed to collective defense on NATO's eastern flank.
U.S. troops will be training with allied NATO forces, to make sure the alliance can operate as a single, coherent force, in case of aggression from Russia.
LT. COL. DANIEL HILL, U.S. ARMY: If the time were to ever come, they know they can trust us and we know we can trust them.
PLEITGEN: The U.S. says Russia has over 100,000 troops at the border of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin could order an attack at any time, though Russia claims it would not.
The next few days could be critical. NATO's secretary general told me in an exclusive interview.
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Russia is increasing both the number of troops but also their readiness and the capability to act and to conduct aggressive actions on very short notice. So the number of troops is going up while the warning time is going down.
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PLEITGEN (voice-over): And the secretary general tells me that's exactly why additional U.S. support is so important.
STOLTENBERG: I strongly welcome the deployment of more U.S. forces borrowed partly because the United States is by far the biggest ally and they contribute thousands of troops but also because it's, of course, sends a very strong message of the Iran - commitment of the United States to NATO and to European security.
PLEITGEN: Both the U.S. and NATO say they hope diplomacy can prevail but they are stepping up preparations in case it fails -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Bucharest, Romania.
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KINKADE: CNN has learned at least eight Westerners are being held by the Taliban, in Afghanistan. Sources say, at least one American and seven British citizens, have been arrested by Taliban forces over the past two months. No formal charges appear to have been lodged.
In the meantime, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday, releasing $7 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan central bank. Half will go to provide humanitarian relief inside the country, half is going to the victims of 9/11 terror attacks, who have been fighting in court for access to funds for years.
Now a follow-up to a CNN investigation into U.S. military findings that no one was hit by gunfire during a suicide bombing at Kabul airport amid the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last August; 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan civilians died in that attack.
Newly released documents are raising alarming questions about the military probe. CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh has our report, which contains videos some viewers may find disturbing.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): The U.S. military insists nobody was shot after a bomb, detonated here at the Abbey Gate of Kabul airport in August.
The Pentagon says all the casualties -- more than 180 -- were killed by the lone suicide bomber.
They have disputed the findings of a CNN investigation, based on medical records, doctors at several Afghan hospitals and 19 survivors, who saw people shot or were shot themselves, that raise serious questions about the military's findings and whether gunfire hit Afghan civilians.
The military maintains U.S. Marines and U.K. troops fired on just three occasions, all harmless warning shots over the heads of the crowd.
JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We respect the reporting of CNN clearly. But our -- our -- we -- we are going to stand by the investigation, which did not find any conclusive evidence that there was gunfire of any kind by American troops on -- on Afghan citizens.
WALSH (voice-over): But more evidence has emerged in nearly 2,000 pages of documents from the U.S. investigation released over the weekend. While military investigators admit not speaking to any Afghan civilians, the papers reveal what the U.S. military survivors of the blast told them, what they heard and saw.
Firstly, one Marine said she joined other Marines, opening fire in the aftermath but did not know what she shot at.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went in and saw a lot of Marines, shooting by the jersey barrier. There was a lot of smoke. I couldn't see where they were firing. They grabbed me and I started firing my weapon as well. I don't know what I was firing at.
WALSH (voice-over): Other Marines who were at the blast site reported seeing rounds impact around them. One said --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw Marines return fire. I heard three distinct shots hit the back windows of the tower. The third round impacted right in front of my face, as I was closing the ballistic glass window.
WALSH (voice-over): Another quote read --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could hear sporadic rounds snapping overhead for about five minutes. I didn't see any traces but I saw sparks when bullets would impact things.
WALSH (voice-over): Another --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I was applying tourniquets, I saw ricochets. Never saw a shooter.
WALSH (voice-over): Another read --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw the shots hitting around us.
WALSH (voice-over): Some interviews are done in a group and, with the names redacted, it is hard to determine how many troops are talking in each group or their rank.
Within the documents, some U.S. military personnel say they did not fire at all, despite the chaos and possibility they were under attack. Others report not hearing gunfire.
Much of the testimony is consistent with the conclusions of the investigators. But some interviewees do describe the impact of bullets near them, while the U.S. investigators said the only shots fired went over people's heads.
A U.S. military spokesman said the above Marines' statements were, quote, "deemed less credible, partly as a result of their junior rank and inexperience of some, coupled with the likely impact of the blast on their recollections."
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WALSH (voice-over): He added, "Investigators had contradictory information from several credible sources" and that "there are conflicting statements as well as inconsistent evidence," saying, "the investigators drew conclusions based on a preponderance of all the evidence collected."
U.S. military investigators have also said no bullets were pulled from patients treated in the aftermath.
A person with U.S. combat medic experience, on duty that night, recalled differently.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Originally, a lot of the wounds were classified as gunshot wounds. But they were actually because of shrapnel. But there were some gunshot wounds. There was a non-U.S. patient that had a bullet inside the back of his head after small arms fire.
WALSH (voice-over): A U.S. military spokesman told CNN that this medic was not in the operating theater and that surgeons who were did not report removing bullets from patients.
Yet the documents show U.S. personnel, at times, describing scenes similarly to Afghan survivors and raise yet further questions as to whether the U.S. military has fully investigated -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
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KINKADE: French leaders say that they jumped the gun with their plan to move away from nuclear energy. Now they are backtracking on a promise to start putting reactors like these out of commission. That story, next.
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
France is backpedaling on its pledge to move away from nuclear energy. This week President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to build more nuclear reactors, despite promising, four years ago, to start shutting them down. As our Jim Bittermann reports, it came after a chain reaction of events, leaving France low on energy.
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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the control room of one of the last coal-fired electrical plants in France, the engineers keep a watchful eye on their monitors but the weather forecast as well.
Under the law, this plant is supposed to shut down in a matter of weeks, as the country tries to move away from its last remaining environmentally unfriendly coal-fired plants to meet climate change goals.
But there is a problem: the electricity it produces is badly needed just now.
BITTERMANN: Generators here are working at full capacity. The advantage of the coal fire plant, like this one, is it can ramp up production quickly, within a matter of hours, meeting sudden changes in demand; say, for example, from a winter storm.
But while bad weather could cause demand to spike, the underlying problem is the fall in supply.
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BITTERMANN (voice-over): France depends on its nuclear power plants to produce 70 percent of its electricity. But in recent weeks, a fifth of that capacity has disappeared; 12 of the country's 56 reactors are offline because of scheduled maintenance or emergency repairs. That has left such a shortage that the country, which normally exports
electricity to the rest of Europe, has been forced to import power from other countries. The situation is worrisome enough that President Macron says, from now on, nuclear power plants will only be taken offline for safety reasons.
But the useful life of current reactors will be pushed beyond 50 years if possible and that the country will look forward to building 14 new nuclear reactors.
MACRON (through translator): Given the electricity needs, the need to also anticipate the transition and the end of the existing fleet, which cannot be extended indefinitely, today, we are going to launch a program of new nuclear reactors.
BITTERMANN (voice-over): At the same time, Macron says the push will be on to expand other renewable energy production from solar parks and offshore wind developments. The government minister in charge has had to admit, the energy strategy has been wrong.
BARBARA POMPILI, FRENCH ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION MINISTER (through translator): We put too much confidence in nuclear, saying nuclear would solve all of our problems. It was an error putting all of our eggs in one basket.
BITTERMANN: France's heavy reliance on nuclear energy is, perhaps, one of the reasons why the country has been lagging behind on renewable projects, like these offshore wind turbines.
But two years ago, the council of state ruled that the country is not moving fast enough into renewables. So here and elsewhere, the pace is picking up.
BITTERMANN (voice-over): The director of part of an offshore wind unit near Brittany feels just that.
FREDERIC GRIZAUD, DIRECTOR, CHANTIERS DE L'ATLANTIQUE: He's speaking of more, because if we want to be carbon neutral by 2050, then we need all of the electricity we can provide. So offshore wind will be part of the mix for sure.
BITTERMANN (voice-over): The first wind farm here, of 80 turbines, will be up and running by the end of the year, part of President Macron's plans to expand all forms of renewable energy development, hoping to bring France into compliance with the Paris climate change accords.
It is a tall order and likely to be a very expensive one -- Jim Bittermann, CNN, France.
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KINKADE: Thank you for tuning in, I am Lynda Kinkade, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. Kim Brunhuber continues with our coverage at the top of the hour. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA," up next.
