Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Russia Faces Financial Meltdown; Biden's First State of the Union. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired March 01, 2022 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
The U.S., the west, Europe are now effectively isolation the Russian economy to some degree. They are sending lethal assistance, more and more, which has made a difference on the battlefield. Those anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft weapons. But some are frustrated, and I imagine some folks at home might wonder, why can't the U.S. do more? Why can't it take out part of this 40-mile convoy? Of course, that would put U.S. and Russian forces head-to-head. Might lead to greater, greater escalation.
But is there more that the U.S. and the west can do? And might it be doing more than we realize on the ground?
JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I suspect a ladder. I suspect there is, on a clandestine basis, a lot of support being provided to the Ukrainians, notably in the area of logistics and supplies of weaponry and, you know, how to get that into a Ukraine. I'm sure there is very robust intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians.
You know, I couldn't help but think about what a couple of squadrons of RA-10s (ph), a ground attack aircraft, could do with that column, which doesn't reflect very good convoy security practices, just bunching up those vehicles like that. That's a target-rich environment.
So, I'm sure there's more that is being done that's visible and there's more that could be done, obviously, a no-fly zone, but I don't think that's in the cards now.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HILL: As we look at what is being done, and as you just talked about, this effort, obviously, to surround, to cut off Kyiv, is it more beneficial for Vladimir Putin to try to splinter Ukraine at this point, and to wage some division in that way than it is to try to take the country as a whole?
CLAPPER: Well, that's been bandied about, you know, whether he is -- would be content with just lopping off part of Ukraine or trying to divide it up and give pieces to other countries. I think right now he's committed to try to control it all. And by means of installing a compliant government in Kyiv. Whether that will succeed or not, whether he'll change course, I don't know. But my assessment right now is, he's going for the whole enchilada.
SCIUTTO: Yes. We're seeing it play out, cities encircled.
Director James Clapper, thanks so much.
CLAPPER: Thanks, Jim.
SCIUTTO: I do want to give you an update because you did hear that air raid siren at the top of the broadcast here. It's now gone away. We hear them at time -- sometime and most of the time they're not serious. Might just be a plane flying overhead. But we're safe on the roof right now if you were wondering.
Other thing we're watching this morning, at any minute Secretary of State Antony Blinken will address the U.N. Human Rights Council following Russia's overnight attack of a government building right in the middle of the city center in Kharkiv. We're going to bring you those comments live coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:38:01]
SCIUTTO: This is Secretary of State Antony Blinken just moments ago addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council on Russia's continuing invasion of Ukraine.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: United States is pleased to rejoin the U.N. Human Rights Council. More than at any other point in recent history, the principles at the heart of this council's work and the entire United Nations are being challenged.
As we meet, Russia is carrying out a premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine, violating international law, flouting the core principles of international peace and security and creating a human rights and humanitarian crisis.
Reports of Russia's human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law are mounting by the hour. Russian strikes are hitting schools, hospitals, residential buildings. They're destroying critical infrastructure, which provides millions of people across Ukraine with drinking water, gas to keep them from freezing to death and electricity.
Civilian buses, cars, even ambulances have been shelled. Russia is doing this every day across Ukraine. The high commissioner said yesterday that Russia's attacks had killed at least 100 civilians, including children, and wounded hundreds more, and said she expects the real figures are much higher.
And the casualties keep mounting, including the many civilians killed and wounded in Russia's monstrous rocket strikes that hit an apartment complex in Kharkiv yesterday.
Russia's violence has driven over half a million Ukrainians from the country in just a few days, children, the elderly, people with disabilities who are making harrowing journeys through conflict zones.
If President Putin succeeds in his stated goal of toppling Ukraine's democratically elected government, the human rights and humanitarian crises will only get worse. Look at Crimea, where Russians' occupation has come with extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities (INAUDIBLE) the repression of dissent.
[09:40:14]
The Kremlin is also ramping up its repression within Russia, where even before the invasion it was shuttering human rights organizations and harassing, poisoning and imprisoning anti-corruption activists and political opponents.
Authorities reportedly have detained thousands of Russians peacefully protesting the invasions, as well as journalists covering the demonstrations. Russian officials issued a warning to the country's press that any reporting that refers to the assault as, quote, an attack, an invasion, or a declaration of war, end quote, in other words, that tells the truth will result in media outlets being blocked and fined.
And Russia's prosecutor's office said that any Russian who assists a foreign country, foreign organization, or international organization, during its so-called operation may be imprisoned for up to 20 years.
These are the human rights abuses this council was created to stop. If we cannot come together now, when will we come together?
We must send a resolute and unified message that President Putin should unconditionally stop this unprovoked attack, as the secretary general and the high commissioner have done, and immediately withdraw Russian forces from Ukraine.
We must condemn firmly and unequivocally Russia's attempt to topple a democratically elected government and its gross human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. And we must take steps to hold the perpetrators accountable.
This council's decision to hold an urgent debate on the crisis in Ukraine is an important step toward ensuring documentation and accountability. I thank the many members who supported it.
We must underscore Russia's obligation, even in its unlawful invasion, to respect international humanitarian law, including as it relates to the protection of civilians in the conflict.
Council members should stop using language implying that all sides bear equal responsibility for the unprovoked attack of one side. This isn't even handed. It's wrong and fails to place accountability where it belongs.
The same goes for members who argue falsely that denouncing human rights abuses is politicizing the situation. It is failing to speak up about human rights abuses that politicize the situation.
We must reject Russia's attempts to falsely justify this attack as a defense of human rights, misappropriating terms that we reserve for the worst atrocities and disrespecting every victim of those crimes.
Finally, we must press the Kremlin to respect the human rights of all Russians, including the right of citizens to peacefully express dissent and journalists to report the news and provide information to the families of Russian soldiers who deserve to know the fate of loved ones killed in President Putin's war of choice.
One can reasonably ask whether a U.N. member state that tries to take over another U.N. member state, while committing horrific human rights abuses and causing massive humanitarian suffering, should be allowed to remain on this council.
Even as we focus on the crisis in Ukraine, it's far from the only part of the world where the council's attention is needed. In Belarus, the Lukashenka regime is brutally repressing civil society and the country's pro-democracy movement, using transnational repression to silence critics abroad and enabling Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In recent days, Belarusian authorities have detained hundreds of people demonstrating peacefully against Russia's attack. In China, the government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other minority groups. We urge the high commissioner to release without delay her report on the situation there.
We must redouble our efforts to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and press the Taliban to respect the rights of all Afghans, including by stopping the unjust detentions of women protesters and journalists, ending reprisals, allowing all Afghans to be educated and to work in every sector.
The Human Rights crises in Burma, Cuba, the DPRK, Iran, Nicaragua, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, among others, also demand this council's ongoing attention. In each of these places, we must not only denounce abuses, but work to stop them and hold perpetrators accountable.
Yet, in a moment --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: We've been listening to the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken there addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council in the midst of what is an ongoing siege of several Ukrainian cities at once, cities, population centers with millions of people in them, some of them, including the Capital Kyiv, saying there, Erica, how this is a human tragedy unfolding here?
[09:45:17]
SCIUTTO: Expressing really outrage and alarm at the idea that Russia is a member -- could be a member of such a Human Rights Council and really asking now the world's act.
HILL: And pointing out -- and this made me think of a point that you made earlier, Jim -- he says, these are the human rights that council was created to stop. If we cannot come together now, when will we come together?
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HILL: As you pointed out, unfortunately, over the years, we have heard a number of pleas, a number of speeches to respond to human rights violation.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HILL: We have seen far less action. The question, of course, now is, will that change?
SCIUTTO: Yes, we'll be watching.
HILL: Yes, we'll be watching.
Stay with us. We're going to take a short break here. We'll return with much more, including much more of Jim's reporting, live from Ukraine. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:34]
HILL: The crushing sanctions imposed by the west have sent prices soaring for ordinary Russians. There are long lines at banks and ATMs as people try to withdraw their savings. The sanctions have sent the ruble crashing, as you know. It is now worth less than a U.S. penny.
The Moscow Stock Exchange remains closed for a second straight day.
CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now.
The sanctions are surgical. They are meant to be crushing.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
HILL: And they are certainly having an effect. ROMANS: And they're working.
Look, the Russian economy is reeling under the weight of the global response really to Vladimir Putin's six days now of invasion. You look at the crash in the ruble, less than a penny, you know, no end in sight to that because, look, the central bank has now also been directly sanctioned. That would be the body that would step in and intervene and try to protect the ruble and doesn't have much firepower.
Now, the central bank, they're raising interest rates to 20 percent. Imagine if you are a Russian citizen trying to borrow money. It's something that everyone there will feel.
The stock market taking such a beating. The Russians won't let it open. This is the second day it has not been open and Russian companies trading on some international exchanges have seen their shares halted as authorities try to figure out what the sanctions will mean, whether they can even trade the shares on international markets because of the sanctions.
The French finance minister saying a trillion dollars of Russian assets have been frozen that they want to provoke the collapse of the Russian economy. This is financial warfare being in retaliation for what the real warfare of Vladimir Putin.
HILL: It was interesting, too. I read this interview with Fiona Hill in "Politico" who said, for companies, this is a real opportunity for them to show whether or not they're actually sort of -- they're putting their money -- or taking their money out, I guess, where their mouth is.
We've heard so much about ESG, emotional, social and corporate governments, how this is the highest priority for companies and that choosing not to do business with Russia could, in fact, show that. Are we seeing more of that?
ROMANS: We're seeing some big energy companies just walking away from their multi-billion-dollar stakes in Russia, which is something I never thought I would -- I would ever see.
You know, there's -- there's principal and there's profit. There could be a profit reason to walk away from business with Russia right now, too, because if this is going to be the status of this regime, it's not a player that you can rely on in the global economy anymore. It really isn't. So, walking away now for many, it might be the -- it might be the right move.
It reminds me a little bit of apartheid in South Africa, where globally companies just got together and said we're out.
HILL: Right. And it's certainly a comparison that I'm starting to see more too. So I think you make a great point with that.
ROMANS: Yes.
HILL: Christine, appreciate it, as always. Thank you.
President Biden, of course, preparing for a big night. His first State of the Union Address. All of this happening amid Russia's attack on Ukraine. That's on top of the challenges he is facing, of course, here at home. So, how will he address the American people tonight? What can we expect to hear? We're live in Washington, next?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:57:55]
HILL: Tonight, President Biden will deliver his first State of the Union Address. One that is much different from the one he expected to give just a few weeks ago. It will now focus much more on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also address ongoing and pressing domestic issues.
CNN's John Harwood live outside the White House.
So, John, I mean, what can we expect to hear from the president tonight as he does need to address all of those issues?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Erica. And as you indicated, not very long ago this was going to be an address where the president was going to try to regain the high ground on the economy, talk about growth, talk about job creation, try to explain what his administration has done and is doing to deal with inflation, what he can do with his legislative agenda. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has given the United States and the world a dramatically different focus. That changes the focus of the speech.
Here's how Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, described it earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He will talk about the steps we've taken to not only support the Ukrainian people with military and economic assistance, but also the steps he's taken to build a global coalition (ph) imposing crippling financial sanctions on President Putin, his inner circle and the Russian economy, and he will talk about the steps he has taken to mitigate the impact of President Putin's invasion of Ukraine on the global economy and the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARWOOD: Now, Erica, the Biden political team is not expecting a dramatic impact on his approval rating or public assessments of him from the state of the union speeches. These kind of speeches don't do that anymore given the media environment that we're in. But it does give him a chance to let a very large audience see him in a somewhat different light, from a president struggling with an agenda on Capitol Hill, to someone who's leading a coalition in the west, effectively given the cards that he's been dealt and the west has been dealt with Ukraine to try to stand firm against Russian aggression, strong economic sanctions, of course, military assistance to Ukraine.
Obviously, the Ukrainians, since NATO troops and U.S. troops are not going to be there on the ground, are left to do the battling of the Russians themselves.
[10:00:05]
Very dramatic situation and that is the backdrop for the president's speech tonight.
