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How Vladimir Putin Hides His Fortune with No Paper Trail; U.S. Pediatric Surgeon Operating in Ukraine Amid Sirens and Shelling; Severe Weather Including Tornadoes Threatening Large Parts of U.S.; North Carolina Man Providing Clean Water to Ukrainians. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired March 18, 2022 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Just in to CNN French President Emmanuel Macron just confronted Vladimir Putin over Russia's assault on Ukraine. During a phone call a short time ago the French president raised extreme concerns as they're described about attacks on civilians in Mariupol. Reportedly told Putin to call for an immediate cease-fire inside the city.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: But when asked about Putin's response Macron spokesperson said, quote, President Putin again placed responsibility for the conflict on Ukraine.
BLACKWELL: Vladimir Putin claims that he receives just a modest salary but make no mistake about it he is among the wealthiest people in the world.
CAMEROTA: So, CNN's Drew Griffin shows us how the Russian president hides his assets and transfers wealth inside Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the shore of the Black Sea, it can only be described as a palace, 190,000 square feet. From the air you can see the church, tea house and amphitheater and reportedly an underground hockey ring. With a no-fly zone and a no- boat zone.
This, according to an investigation last year, by the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny's group. They claim that this gilded luxurious palace fit for a king was built for Vladimir Putin.
MARIA PEVCHIKH, HEAD OF INVESTIGATIONS, ANTI-CORRUPTION FOUNDATION: This palace is very much a symbol and manager of Putin's Russia. He no longer sees himself as a government employee, as an elected figure. He sees himself as a czar, as a king of some sort and that, you know, a Russian Czar of course deserves a palace.
GRIFFIN (voice over): CNN can't independently verify Putin's connection to the palace, and Putin's spokesman denies the Russian leader owns it or any palace. Maria Pevchikh from Navalny's Anti- Corruption Foundation say they be proof, that their sources and documents all point to the palace as an example of how the oligarchs corruptly enrich Russia's president.
PEVCHIKH: It has been paid by Russian oligarchs, by Russian state- owned companies. Money from Russian people, from regular people are stolen and diverted into building this horrendous thing on the Black Sea.
[15:35:00]
GRIFFIN (voice over): According to the investigation and a whistleblower who came forward, the money for the palace came from a Russian investment fund company that solicited charity donations from the Russian oligarchs.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: There are these rumors that Putin being the richest man in the world, and he may be. It's very, very hard to try to understand what his wealth is and where it's held.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Rumored to be worth more than $100 billion officially, Putin claims that 800 square foot apartment, a few cars and a modest salary in 2020 valued at about $140,000. But his official income is irrelevant. Russia watchers say Putin controls Russia by determining who gets money and who doesn't. Who gets to run business. Who skims profit and how the wealth is passed. He doesn't need any assets listed in his name says journalist Tom Burgis. It's all his when he asks.
TOM BURGIS, AUTHOR, KLEPTOPIA: It's closer to something like the Godfather, but ultimately, they owe everything they have to the boss and with a click of the fingers as he's shown in the past, Putin can take everything from an oligarch, however rich and influential they may seem they're ultimately depend on it.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Fight the system, interfere in politics and face his wrath. Exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky who was convicted of tax evasion and fraud spent ten years in a Russian prison he says for not playing Putin's game. He claims Putin is paranoid, dangerous and must be stopped.
MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY, FORMER RUSSIAN OLIGARCH AND OIL TYCOON (through translator): All the accounts of all the oligarchs who function as Putin's wallet must be stopped. They must all feel the pain right now, and it must continue until the war ends.
GRIFFIN (voice over): Newly imposed sanctions from the West have now made it hard for many of the Russian billionaires to do business outside of Russia. Yachts, bank accounts frozen. Inside Russia the economy shows signs at crumbling. But chipping away from Putin's brutal hold on power through economics will take time. From his actions observers believe Putin's strategy is far beyond personal riches.
DOUGHERTY: He wants to rebuild Russia as a great power. And you almost have to go back to the czarist days to understand that. GRIFFIN (voice over): Just look at the gates of Putin's purported
palace, a golden two headed eagle, a symbol of Russia similar to the two headed crowned eagle that is atop the gates of the winter palace that belonged to Russia's last czar.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Just incredible, incredible to see all that opulence that he denies.
BLACKWELL: Yes, 800 square foot apartment, couple of cars, $140k a year on paper.
CAMEROTA: Right. Then there's the yacht.
Now to this. Imagine a doctor having to operate on a newborn baby with air-raid sirens going off in a city that's under attack. Next an American pediatric surgeon in Ukraine to help the most vulnerable victims of the war.
[15:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: Three weeks after the invasion of Ukraine started the human toll is already incalculable. According to the Unite Nation's human rights office at least 816 civilians have been killed, but the U.N. believes the real figures are considerably higher. The World Health Organization also confirmed there had at least 43 attacks on Ukrainian health care facilities. We've seen some of those.
Dr. William Novick is an American heart surgeon now in Lviv, Ukraine, to operate on sick infants. Dr. Novick, thank you so much for being here. We've been looking forward to talking to you. I know how busy you are. Just explain for our viewers why you decided to leave your home in Memphis, Tennessee last week to go to Ukraine.
DR. BILL NOVICK, PEDIATRIC CARDIAC SURGEON WORKING IN UKRAINE: Well, Alisyn we've been working in Ukraine since 1944. We have colleagues that we've trained all over this country. And last year we started a program here in western Ukraine because there's not a pediatric cardiac service in this side of the country. The sort of safe haven.
We were here in January as well and operated on several children then, and I told them if things became really hard and they did some emergency surgeries done please let me know. And as you would have it about 20 days after I left, after Putin had started his criminal invasion of Ukraine, I got a call that there were four critical newborns they did not feel comfortable operating on or caring for. So, we put team together of intrepid fearless nurses and doctors and flew over to help.
CAMEROTA: Doctor, it's just incredible. And I want to hear about those newborns and how all the children are doing. But first, you know, missiles weren't hitting Lviv until last night. And then last night there were six Russian missiles. Have the conditions changed for you?
NOVICK: Well, I would say the anxiety level of the team went up at 6:30 this morning when the last three landed. But, you know, this is our last day, Alisyn, and it's unfortunate because there are other children that we know that we didn't get to.
[15:45:00]
I'd love to stay but unfortunately, I've got a team that I have to meet in the Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo on Monday. So, you know, yes, heightened level of anxiety, but we have an emergency escort out tomorrow to the Krakow airport.
CAMEROTA: So, how many surgeries have you done, and how are the infants?
NOVICK: We've done six. We originally had planned to do seven, but fortunately one really critically ill child got transferred to Poland and received his operation already. So, we've operated on three children that are less than 21 days of age, 9, 10, and 17 days. We operated on two children that were just barely four months of age. And then we actually operated on a toddler who had had -- his heart disease caused him to pass out when he walks, so he was kind of an urgent case as well.
We did the last case today and it was the worst case. It was the last case and the worst case. A child was transferred up from Odessa. The child is 9 days old, has a syndrome call hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Unfortunately, while he was in Odessa, he perforated his intestines on top of this, developed peritonitis, and when he arrived, he was in critical shock. We recovered the baby for about 36 hours, got him stable enough and operated on him today, and he's much more stable now in the neonatal intensive care unit.
CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Dr. Novick. I mean, you're obviously doing God's work. I can only imagine how the parents feel. Are you with the families? Can you just tell us what their response is to you arriving?
NOVICK: Yes, so we talked to all the families. This last child's family speaks perfect English. And they had intended -- it was a prenatal diagnosis and they intended to actually abort the child. Unfortunately, there are very strict laws about abortion in Ukraine and they passed the window. So, when they got here, they weren't sure they wanted the baby operated on. So, I spent about an hour and a half with them last night after we finish operating yesterday.
And we pulled a whole team of people together, the cardiologist, the general surgeon who also needed to operate on this kid after we stabilized him in the neonatal intensive care unit, and we answered all the parent's questions, and, you know, they were concerned about the child's brain because of the shock the child had been in.
But the neonatal unit has done such a fabulous job. While we're talking to the parents -- OK, while were talking to the parents the baby reaches up and grabs the breathing tube and tries to pull it out. I turn around to the mother and I said if your son has brain damage it is extremely small because he's moving everything, he's opening his eyes, he's tracking people and now he's trying to pull his endotracheal tube out. That maneuver by the child is what sold the parents.
CAMEROTA: Dr. Novick, you're a miracle worker. I mean, that's just an incredible story, and it's, you know, heartwarming in these really dark days. So, thank you very much for sharing all of this and best of luck in getting out safely there, and we'll look forward to talking to you on the other side. Thanks so much.
NOVICK: All right, Alisyn, thanks a lot. All right, bye-bye.
CAMEROTA: And we'll be right back.
[15:50:00]
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BLACKWELL: Powerful storms are kicking off the weekend across the South and Ohio Valley. The severe weather system is bringing damaging wind and rain to Southern states, large hail from central Ohio to the Florida Panhandle. And a tornado threat will loom over the parts of the Gulf Coast for most of the day. Forecasters say later tonight, the severe storms will shift north up the East Coast and continue through Saturday.
Russian bombardments have left people in Mariupol, Ukraine, without access to drinking water. This is a problem that CNN hero Doc Hendley knows will likely get worse.
CAMEROTA: Since 2004, his nonprofit Wine to Water has worked all over the world to provide clean water to those in need. Now he and his team are responding to the war in Ukraine with their largest filter shipment ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOC HENDLEY, FOUNDER WINE TO WATER: Bottled water and sometimes even tap water in these communities is a luxury that most people do not have access to right now. We're going to be sending about 12,000 water filters, split up between three different drops inside western Ukraine, and then at the two different borders Poland and Romania. That's enough to clean 2.4 million gallons of water every single day. People are just scrounging, trying to find something to drink and they end up trying to take water from an unsafe source that will give them diarrhea and dehydrate them even faster. And we've already gotten word that that's beginning to happening. My hope is we're going to be able to get as many people that are struggling to find clean water, access to clean water asap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:55:00]
BLACKWELL: We know so many people need it. To learn more about Wine to Water, and to nominate your own CNN hero, head over to CNNheroes.com. CAMEROTA: I mean, these are the angels. And we just heard on earlier
with that doctor working who was working on the infants in Lviv. They go towards danger. They head towards danger to help save people. It's really incredible and of course, inspiring.
BLACKWELL: And James Hill, one of them is well. That American -- we spoke with his sister earlier today. All right, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts after a short break.
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