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Blinken to Address U.N. Security Council; Shellfire in Donbas Region; Valieva Finishes 4th; Jens Stoltenberg is Interviewed about Russia. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 17, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Lies from the Kremlin. U.S. officials say Vladimir Putin's claims of a troop drawdown are not true and that Russia is instead increasing forces along Ukraine's borders. The State Department now concerned that Russian troops are moving into fighting positions.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.

New this morning, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is speaking out on Russia's buildup of forces near and around Ukraine, saying they are adding, not subtracting, forces there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We've seen some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft. We see them sharpen their readiness in the Black Sea. We even see them stocking up their blood supplies.

And I know firsthand that you don't do these sort of things for no reason. And you certainly don't do them if you're getting ready to pack up and go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The NATO secretary-general says that Russia is, in fact, at this moment, capable of launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine with little or no warning. I'll speak to Secretary Stoltenberg in just a few minutes. You'll want to hear his view of the situation here. We are also following new developments from the Donbas region in

eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian armed forces are reporting shelling there. The U.S. learns a preschool was hit.

CNN has a team heading there on the ground.

We've also just learned that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make an unscheduled stop at the U.N. in the next hour to address the U.N. Security Council.

There is a lot of news this morning. Our reporters and correspondents following every angle of this story across the region, as well as back home.

And that is where we begin with Kylie Atwood at the State Department.

Kylie, the secretary of state changed his schedule. This is an unscheduled stop in New York this morning to deliver what sounds like an urgent warning on Ukraine. What do we know?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations asked him to come to New York and deliver remarks today at the United Nations Security Council meeting after a series of meetings late last night that she said occurred between the State Department, the National Security Council, and the White House. She said that his visit is occurring because it portrays the gravity of the situation. It portrays the fact that the United States wants to be committed to diplomacy, the secretary will say that, but it is also a recognition of just how dangerous this moment is. She said the facts on the ground are that Russia is moving toward an invasion. And so the secretary wants to be clear that the meeting today at the U.N. Security Council shouldn't distract from what is happening on the ground right now. It should highlight what is happening. And he will be very clear about what the United States is seeing Russia do.

Now, the other news that we are learning this morning, Jim, is that Russia responded to the U.S. with these written responses. The United States, you'll remember, gave Russia a written response a few weeks ago. Russia has now responded. They provided that response to the U.S. ambassador in Moscow today. And so we'll learn more about that because Russia actually said that they are going to put that response out into the public eye. But it's less so important that they responded. It's more so important what is in that response because this is the diplomatic channel here. It is alive, but is it actually going anywhere? That is the real question.

And so we'll wait to see when Russia puts out that response because Secretary Blinken said that the U.S. response to Russia was laying out a serious, diplomatic path forward, if Russia chooses it. We're still waiting to see if Russia will choose it, as they continue this aggressive buildup on all of those borders.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: A key question, of course, will be whether Russia has moved off its demand to prevent Ukraine from ever joining NATO, which, of course, the U.S. has said repeatedly, as has its NATO allies, that's a non-starter.

Kylie Atwood, we'll look forward to finding out what's in that letter. Thanks so much.

With me here in Kyiv, CNN's senior international correspondent Matthew Chance.

I want to talk about events in eastern Ukraine this morning because there's an enormous amount of attention focused there, concern from the U.S. and NATO that Russia might try to stage something there that would then justify a further military incursion. So now there is an allegation of shelling. But in this case, according to Ukrainian officials, coming from the Russian side, or the Russian-controlled side.

[09:05:01]

What do we know?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, it just shows you, Jim, how tense and volatile that situation is in that area where there's a -- you know, there's a front line, essentially, a line of control, it's called, between the Russian- backed rebels and the Ukrainian armed forces. It's where the fighting's been taking place for the past eight years.

SCIUTTO: Thirteen thousand people have died.

CHANCE: Yes, 13,000 - 14,000 even. And, you know, look, what we're seeing regular cease-fire violations. This one particularly worrying. It seems that a shell has been lobbed over from the Russian rebel- controlled side. It hit a kindergarten, where there were kids actually inside of it. And you can see pictures of the wall. It's been punched through with a shell. Another one landed in the playground. Fortunately, no one was -- no one was seriously -- none of the children were injured. A couple of the staff, apparently, got concussion injuries.

There's also been allegations from the other side as well, from the rebel-controlled side, that the Ukrainian military have opened fire with artillery shells on, you know, kind of areas of Donetsk, areas of Lagansk (ph) and other rebel controlled cities or residential areas there that we haven't, you know, corroborated what damage, if any, was done by that. But it is a situation you can easily see could escalate into a broader conflict.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And we should be clear that this line of contact has been an active slow burn war zone for a number of years and you frequently have shelling going back and forth.

I do want to ask what is a continued public disconnect, at least, between the Ukrainian military's view of whether Russia has the forces necessary in place to invade today and the U.S. NATO view. The U.S. and NATO, they keep repeating, they could invade any day they want to. The Ukrainian military has a different view.

CHANCE: Yes, I mean yesterday I got this readout from Ukrainian military intelligence, and they were like, look, there's about 148,000 troops there, just over that. That's in sort of general line with what the U.S. intelligence assessments are saying. But the Ukrainian view is that that is not enough to stage a full scale invasion of this country. That doesn't mean there's not going to be an invasion.

SCIUTTO: Right.

CHANCE: It doesn't mean you couldn't have some kind of smaller scale thing or it doesn't mean that the Russians couldn't try it with that level of forces. But I think there's an understanding in Ukraine, they want to play this down anyway.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CHANCE: We've seen that all along. But, also, there is an understanding that, you know, if you're going to not just take this territory, but hold it, you're probably going to need more than 150,000 troops.

SCIUTTO: And sometimes with intelligence there are different reads of the same intelligence.

CHANCE: Yes. It's a big country.

SCIUTTO: Matthew Chance, thanks so much.

Bianna, back to you.

GOLODRYGA: A lot of fast-moving developments. We'll continue to cover that part of the world.

But just minutes ago, 15-year-old Russian figure skater star Kamila Valieva competed in the women's free skate. Despite going into the event in the top spot, did not end up medaling. Valieva has been the center of controversy after testing positive for a banned drug, but still being allowed to compete.

CNN's sports anchor Coy Wire joins us live outside Beijing with this morning (ph).

A bit of a surprising development there, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Bianna, a shocking sequence of events. There will be a medal ceremony for the women's individual competition because Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old sensation of the Russian Olympic Committee, did not earn a high enough score to medal. Uncharacteristic mistakes, stumbling, having to put her hand down on the ice from falling and then eventually actually falling twice, hard, to the ice. She did finish her skate, but she finished fourth in scoring, so Russian skaters Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova take gold and silver, and Kaori Sakamoto of Japan taking bronze.

So, just like that, Bianna, all of the controversy of this specific event is gone. Nobody saw this coming as Valieva is that good, that dominant. She's broken world and Olympic records. Even the gold medalist Shcherbakova, who won just moments ago, was not celebrating. It was a shock, Bianna. You can't help but speculate that the pressure got to Valieva in this moment. She was crying uncontrollably afterwards. You can imagine the pressure the 15-year-old girl must have been feeling.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and she had been stumbling earlier this week as well in her performances.

But let's continue with this story and the situation because it's bringing up another Olympic controversy from the summer games, and that was track star Sha'carri Richardson, when she tweeted questioning really the difference between her situation and that of Valieva's, saying, quote, that, you know, her mother died and I can't run and was also favored to place top three, the only difference I see is I'm a black young lady.

Coy, that garnered a lot of headlines. IOC now responding. What did they say?

WIRE: Yes, Bianna, and one thing to note, a major difference between the cases of Kamila Valieva and Sha'carri Richardson is that Richardson accepted the results, right? She did not try to appeal the findings. That, of course, was not the case with Valieva, who has appealed the results multiple times, once back when the Russian Anti- Doping Agency lifted her initial suspension, and now again here at these Beijing games when the IOC, WADA did everything in their power to have the suspension put back in place.

[09:10:01]

But, according to the IOC spokesperson, Mark Adams, there was more to it. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ADAMS, SPOKESMAN, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Simply to say, I mean, obviously, every single case is very different. And this one hasn't even reached the end of its case yet.

But, in terms of Ms. Richardson's case, I mean, she tested positive on the 19th of June, quite a way ahead of the games. The results came in early order for -- you saw to deal with the case on time, before the games. Ms. Richardson accepted a one-month period of ineligibility, which began on June the 28th. So I would suggest that there isn't a great deal of similarity between the two cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: So, Bianna, though the women's individual competition has ended, there will be a medals ceremony for that. Medals will be handed out. We still have the ongoing case with the team event, in which Team USA took silver, Japan took the bronze. Of course, the Russian Olympic Committee took first overall. Kamila Valieva was part of that team. So there will be no medals handed out here at these Beijing games while that case is pending and they're finding out whether or not she is responsible for indeed using banned substances.

GOLODRYGA: Once again highlighting just how much this scandal has marred the sport and the games in general.

Coy Wire, in a snowy Beijing for us today, thank you.

And still to come, NATO's secretary-general says this morning that Russia now has enough capabilities to launch a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. We'll ask him about that coming up next.

Plus, next hour, the New York attorney general will make the case that subpoenas should be enforced against former President Trump and members of his family. What we can expect to see in court.

Also, as we await new guidance on indoor masks from the CDC, some states are moving forward, ditching mandatory masks indoors and at schools. What does that all mean? We'll break it all down for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:15]

SCIUTTO: This morning, allegations of shelling in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, further adding to tensions here with Russia. This as Defense Secretary Austin says Russia is adding, not subtracting, forces on the border, despite Russian claims to the contrary.

Joining me now is the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Secretary-general, thank you for taking the time this morning.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Thank you so much for having me.

SCIUTTO: First, on Russian troop movements.

Russia, as you know, is claiming to be pulling troops back. When they do that, based on NATO assessments, is Russia lying?

STOLTENBERG: Well, we have seen no evidence whatsoever about proving any Russian withdrawal or de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, we have indications that they continue to increase the number of troops close to the Ukrainian border. So, this is of great concern and we call Russia to do what they say and that is to de- escalate and remove forces and to engage in the political, diplomatic effort with NATO and NATO allies.

SCIUTTO: This morning, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said a short time ago, the evidence on the ground is that Russia is moving towards an imminent invasion. Earlier this week we heard from U.S. officials warning of an invasion as soon as this week. Here we are Thursday nearly past in Ukraine.

Are you concerned that those warnings will ring hollow the more time passes without a Russian invasion, without further Russian military action? STOLTENBERG: There is no certainty about the Russian intentions. But

what we do know is that they have amassed the biggest concentration of combat ready troops since the end of the Cold War in Europe, and that these forces are capable of launching a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine with very little or no warning time whatsoever. And then this is combined with threatening rhetoric and also a track record of Russia using force against Ukraine before.

So, if you put that all -- all of that together, of course this is serious, but it's never too late for Russia to change course and to move back from the border and de-escalate. So, we call on them to do that. It's not too late to prevent armed conflict.

SCIUTTO: That hope is based on progress, frankly, in diplomatic discussions. Russia has sent its answer to a U.S. letter from a number of weeks ago.

What do you need to see from the Russian position? What do you need to see change to believe that diplomacy has real potential here? Because, to date, Russia is still holding to a demand that is a nonstarter for NATO, and that is that Ukraine never be allowed to join the alliance.

STOLTENBERG: So we will work for the best political solution, but we need to continue to be prepared for the worst. And that's exactly this kind of, what you call the dual track approach with Russia that NATO has been committed to for a long time.

What we would like to see is, of course, that Russia sits down. We have sent a letter with a lot of proposals on issues like arms control, more transparency on military activities, mechanisms for reducing risks, and we believe there is common -- that it is possible to find some common ground here. And this will improve the security of all NATO allies, but also the security of the people of Russia.

[09:20:07]

So they should sit down and engage in the diplomatic talks and prove that they are serious about their language about de-escalation.

SCIUTTO: You have been warning for some time, as have U.S. officials, about the possibility of Russia concocting some situation, including in eastern Ukraine, perhaps a false flag, but a pretext for further military action.

This morning, we saw shelling in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian military saying that this came from the Russian-controlled side.

Are you, is NATO, concerned that this might fall into that category, that something like this would be an attempt at least by Russia to justify further military action?

STOLTENBERG: So, we are concerned about the increased number of violation of the cease-fire. And the -- and this is the type of events or situations that may be used as a pretext. So, I cannot comment on that specific violation this morning. But what I can say is that one of the reasons why NATO and NATO allies has exposed the Russian plans and the Russian disinformation activities is to make it harder for them to create the pretext that can be used as an excuse for an armed attack against Ukraine.

SCIUTTO: You said earlier today that the Russian threat, in your view, should be viewed as a new normal which we need to be prepared for. I wonder if you were saying there that it's possible that Russia maintains this invasion force for an extended period of time, in effect seeing if it can wait out NATO and Ukraine? Are you concerned about that? And how long can NATO and the U.S. and Ukraine maintain this heightened state of alert?

STOLTENBERG: But regardless of whether Russia invades Ukraine or not, what we have seen so far, I'm afraid represents a new normal because what we have seen is that Russia has been willing to amass a large number of combat ready troops to try to intimidate and threaten Ukraine, but also try to threaten NATO allies because they have now, for the first time in a document have submitted to us contested core principles for European security. And that is the right for every nation to choose its own path and for the right of NATO allies to defend and protect each other.

And, therefore, I'm afraid that this may be a new normal and NATO has no other choice than to respond. And we are, therefore, looking into adjusting our posture, our military presence in eastern part of the alliance to make sure there is no room for misunderstanding about NATO's commitment and will and capability to protect and defend all allies. And by doing that we are preventing any armed attack on NATO allies.

SCIUTTO: To that point, are you saying, if Russia successfully invades here, that NATO does not successfully deter, that Russia would then threaten other NATO allies, particularly in eastern Europe, that they would be under threat next?

STOLTENBERG: What I'm saying is that Russia is challenging, contesting important principles, values which has been important for peace and stability in Europe for decades. We are providing support to a close and highly valued ally, Ukraine. We met with Ukraine today in the NATO -- together with Ukraine and (INAUDIBLE) today at the NATO Ministerial Meeting. And allies expressed a strong political and practical support to Ukraine, including this right to self-defense, which is enshrined in the U.N. Charter.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

STOLTENBERG: But there is a difference between a NATO partner, Ukraine, and NATO allies. When it comes to NATO allies, we provide absolute security guarantees. And attack on one ally will then trigger a response from the whole alliance. And by doing that, we are preventing conflict, are preventing an attack, and that's even more important now when we see the military buildup and the threatening rhetoric from the Russian side.

SCIUTTO: Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, we know you have a lot on your plate. Thanks for taking the time to join us this morning.

STOLTENBERG: Thank you so much for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Bianna, back to you.

GOLODRYGA: A very dangerous warning there if we are, in fact, entering a new normal.

Straight ahead, new CNN reporting this morning concerning the New York attorney general's investigation of the Trump Organization. The AG's office says a public statement from the former president contradicts what his attorney is telling the court.

[09:25:05]

We'll have a live report for you up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: There is a major court battle brewing in New York City this morning. In the next hour, the New York Attorney General's Office will make its case to enforce subpoenas targeting members of the Trump family.

[09:29:59]

It is seeking testimony from former President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump as part of the AG's civil investigation into the Trump Organization. Prosecutors are trying to determine whether