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Putin Critic Alexey Navalny Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison; President Biden Warns of Russian Cyberattacks; Will Belarus Join Russian Invasion of Ukraine?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 22, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All eyes are going to be on those moderates who haven't had the opportunity to question her in the Judiciary Committee, even if this is a party-line vote in that committee.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I still put Senator Mitt Romney on the list. We will see.

(CROSSTALK)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: The goal in these committees is always do no harm.

Thank you all for being in the room.

Our coverage continues right now. Thanks for joining INSIDE POLITICS. Ana Cabrera picks up now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello, and thanks for joining us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

We will get you back to that Supreme Court confirmation hearing in a moment as soon as they resume questioning after lunch.

But, first, we're learning Russia could soon get back up in its brutal war on Ukraine, NATO and U.S. officials say Belarus is preparing to join Russia in this battle, and one source saying Russian combat units are ready right now to enter Ukraine within days and thousands of forces are prepared to deploy.

This could be why a senior U.S. defense official says Ukrainians are now fighting to take back territory. And even as we saw fresh smoke rising from Kyiv today, we're learning the Ukrainians are making gains. A counterattack north and west of Kyiv is jeopardizing Russian attempts to encircle that city.

But, in Mariupol, just devastation, this new video of debris lining the streets just into our newsroom here. And it is the same resident who captured the moment a shell exploded just feet away. Watch this. President Zelenskyy says the battered port city is in ruins like

Armageddon. The U.S. says it has clear evidence Russian forces are deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, hospitals and places of shelter across Ukraine. And in this port city, that couldn't be more clear.

Here's the deputy mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEI ORLOV, DEPUTY MAYOR OF MARIUPOL, UKRAINE: Each day, Mariupol is destroyed more and more. About 90 percent of our infrastructure is damaged and destroyed, a lot of death, a lot of crying, a lot of awful war crimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And take a look at this video of a damaged school. This is in Kharkiv, as aid groups confirm several cities are now running out of food and water and medical supplies.

Some towns with only three to four days of food left.

Let's get right to Ivan Watson into Dnipro.

And, Ivan, on these signs that Belarus may be ready to join the fight, are you seeing or hearing anything about Russia needing help there?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm probably 15 or 16 hours' drive from the Belarus border and actually much closer to the Russian border right now.

But Ukrainian officials have confirmed that Belarus is considered a threat right now. And part of that is because they believe Russian attacks came from Belarus territory at the launch of the war on February 24. And so they have basically been considering Belarus a hostile country, as has the U.S. and the European Union, imposing sanctions on Belarus.

I think that some of the reporting we have shows mixed kind of opinions here, where you have got some NATO military officials telling CNN that they think it's likely Belarus will join soon, that they -- we have Belarusian opposition activists saying that they think that combat units are being prepared to enter Ukraine.

But then, on the other hand, we have a senior U.S. defense official saying that they do not see signs that Belarus could be coming in. And there's a real vulnerability here, both for Belarus and for Russia, if it gets directly involved.

In 2020, Belarus had presidential elections, which were very controversial. There were mass opposition protests after accusations that the longtime president of Belarus rigged the elections. And it was with great effort that -- and a lot of force that the Belarus government was able to crack down on these protests and send the opposition, most of it, running into hiding. If soldiers from Belarus start returning to Belarus in body bags, the

way we're hearing that Russians are returning to Russia, it could destabilize a country that is not terribly strong right now.

And you have a NATO military official who's actually telling CNN -- quote -- "Does Putin want another unstable country in the region," his ally Belarus, perhaps closest ally? involvement in this war would destabilize Belarus is what that NATO military official is telling CNN.

So it could be a double-edged sword. It could put more pressure on Ukrainians, but it could also really hurt Putin's coalition, his alliance on the home front.

CABRERA: Ivan, sources say Russia is targeting civilians and committing war crimes on the ground. What have you been told by civilians and military members that you have spoken to over the last few days?

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WATSON: Civilians described to me sitting in basements in the port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian port city, for weeks enduring Russian artillery bombardment and airstrikes, with no electricity, no heat, no running water, no Internet, and no cell phone connection, and, finally, after weeks of this and watching their neighborhoods being reduced to rubble, making a run for it through Russian front lines in their own vehicles, in some cases coming under fire from the besieging forces of the city.

Mariupol, a city of more than 400,000 people before this war, which now has been under a modern-day siege for weeks. We have been hearing from residents who've escaped. We have been hearing from some of the Ukrainian defenders who are still holding out inside accusations that Russian warships have also been firing from the Sea of Azov, which Mariupol overlooks.

And all of this is kind of -- these are dumb munitions. These are not precision-guided munitions. These are tanks and cannons and warships just blasting a modern-day city. And that's one of the tragedies of this conflict, Ana, is that it is the cities and towns of Ukraine that are the battlefields here.

And who feels the impact of that most? The civilians who are caught in the middle. And nobody, nobody can give you an accurate number of how many civilians are still caught in their basements, in that grinding siege of Mariupol, about three-and-a-half-an-hour's drive from where I'm standing now -- Ana.

CABRERA: Our hearts are with all of those people.

Ivan, thank you for your brave reporting.

I want to bring in CNN's Fred Pleitgen.

He is in Kyiv. Fred, Ukrainians have so far kept Russian forces from encircling that

city. What's the latest?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Ana.

Well, there's been a massive battle going on around Kyiv today, especially in the northern parts of Kyiv. And, essentially, what we have been seeing throughout the entire day is this whole city really engulfed in black smoke throughout wide parts of the outskirts, but especially towards the north of the city.

And then also air raid sirens have been going off the entire day, as we really have seen an escalation even compared to some of the things that have happened here over the past couple of weeks. We can see some of it on our screen right now, some of that thick black smoke that was coming out after those impacts took place.

Now, again, all of that right now taking place or most of it taking place towards the northwest of the city. And that is where those Russian forces are situated and from where they have been trying to move to encircle this city.

And the Ukrainians are saying that they have been holding some of that back, they have been confronting the Russian forces stopping them and, in some case, or even moving at counteroffensives. It's unclear whether or not that is what we're seeing play out right now. But, certainly, it does seem to us and pretty much everyone else that we speak to that this is a lot more fighting that we have seen today than we really have been over the course of the past week or the past couple of days.

One of the other things that happened, Ana, is that there was a missile that the Ukrainians say they shot down over the capital. There was a loud bang here. They say the remnants of that fell into the local river here, into the Dnieper River, as, again, those battles even as I'm speaking to you right now continue to rage.

We are still hearing coming from the north of the city some pretty loud impacts, as a fierce fight certainly seems to be going on there, Ana.

CABRERA: Fred Pleitgen, thank you for your reporting.

I want to bring in now retired Army General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark.

General, if Belarus joins this fight, is this now Russia acknowledging it needs help?

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Oh, absolutely, it is.

In fact, Ana, we have been hearing for two or three weeks that the Belarusians have been trying to get their military forces in order to be able to join the fight. But the truth is that the soldiers in Belarus don't want to be in this fight. And there's been an active sabotage. There's resistance, passive

resistance and other things that have delayed it. So, yes, I mean, Russia is in trouble. And Vladimir Putin doesn't care about some disobedience in Belarus. He just wants those forces in. He wants to finish this fight against Ukraine as rapidly as possible.

That's his goal. He will bring in everybody who can, whether they're prepared or not, including some new Russian draftees, mercenaries, people from Africa, the Syrians. For him, it's all-out war against Ukraine.

CABRERA: Right.

So explain to me, though, if the Belarusian soldiers in the forces that have to go in and fight, should they be sent in, why they, if they are against it, would go in? Why would Belarus send their people in?

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CLARK: Well, Lukashenko owes -- he owes Putin a lot. Putin has kept him in power.

And there's been a decades-long back-and-forth between Putin and Lukashenko, the ruler of Belarus, as to whether or not Russia could absorb Belarus and make it another -- like, part of the Russian Federation. Lukashenko has tried to maintain his independence, but he's increasingly dependent on Putin for internal security.

So, when Putin says, I want more soldiers, Lukashenko feels obligated to provide the airfields, the troops, the room for the nuclear weapons that have been moved into Belarus and so forth. And it's only the resistance of the individual soldiers and their leaders that have kept the Belarusians out so far.

That's my understanding of it.

CABRERA: So, if it were to go to that next level, wouldn't that just destabilized Belarus?

CLARK: Yes.

But, I'm sure in Putin's thinking is, get this over with and then we will worry about the stability of Belarus.

CABRERA: Gotcha.

There is reporting, as we just heard from our correspondents there, that Ukrainian forces have actually taken back some areas near Kyiv. So the fighting is ongoing. And it's hard to know if there's any, I guess, momentum, per se, on the Ukrainian side. But how do you see that Belarusian support changing the fight on the ground?

CLARK: If the Belarusians come in, it would definitely require the Ukrainians to redeploy forces. And it would mean they would be less free to be able to continue this counterattack against the Russians north of Kyiv.

The Belarusian forces would presumably not only come toward Kyiv, but try to go to places like Zhytomyr and others to seal off the supply routes of munitions and so forth getting into Kyiv.

Right now, this is a real -- a real gamble on the part of Ukrainian forces, I will tell you, because their ammunition stocks, their weapons are limited. They need more support from the West, more support from our allies and the United States to continue this. And they have to continue this offensive. They have to push these Russian troops back away from Kyiv.

This is the moment. There's a window of opportunity for this. They're taking advantage of it. We have got to get more support to them very rapidly.

CABRERA: Meantime, the situation just continues to grow more and more dire for civilians. Aid groups are reporting only days of food supply left in some cities.

How does this now factor into the ability for Ukrainians to keep fighting?

CLARK: Well, Ukrainians understand they're in a struggle for survival.

The sacrifices of the Ukrainians in Mariupol are actually helping the battle in Kyiv, because if those forces, Russian forces, around Mariupol are freed up, they will move north, either -- or west -- either against Odessa or up against Kyiv.

The Ukrainians know this. This is why there's no surrender in Mariupol. And this is the tragedy of warfare. It's always the innocent who suffer the most. And Putin seems determined to do this, particularly in an effort to break Ukrainian morale, and put more pressure on Zelenskyy to surrender for humanitarian reasons.

The thing is, Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians understand that if they do surrender, what will happen is, these Russian special police, they will go through and arrest everybody, deport people. It'll be a humanitarian catastrophe. So, they're literally fighting for their lives.

CABRERA: Yes, quickly, if you will, is there a better way or another way for those folks in Mariupol to defend themselves against these attacks that are coming from the sea from these warships?

CLARK: Actually, there isn't. There aren't, as far as I can tell, enough Ukrainian forces down there to break the siege.

This is just one of these unfortunate circumstances where the Ukrainian forces in there, they know they're fighting for their lives, they're fighting for their families, and they're going to stay there and fight as long as possible, as long as they have got ammunition and weapons to resist. If we could parachute supplies in there, if we could somehow get them

in covertly at night, if we could do anything to strengthen that resistance, it would be great. There are Ukrainian forces a couple of hours' highway drive away, but they can't get in there. They have got their own fights, and they're being pinned down.

So this is a humanitarian tragedy, but it's a heroic military stand by the Ukrainian military in Mariupol.

CABRERA: Thank you so much, General Wesley Clark. I really appreciate you being with us.

CLARK: Thank you.

CABRERA: President Biden issuing a new warning to Americans: Prepare for Russian cyberattacks. What can you do to protect yourself or your business?

That's next.

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CABRERA: President Biden is warning private businesses to prepare for Russian cyberattacks.

Quoting the president here: "It's coming."

Let's get right to M.J. Lee at the White House.

And, M.J., the president is urging businesses to strengthen their cyber defenses. What do we know about this threat?

M.J. LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana.

This was a significant announcement from the White House yesterday, because this warning was directed at American businesses here at home, President Biden saying that Vladimir Putin is essentially likely to launch cyberattacks against various American businesses.

He said that this would be all a part of Putin's playbook. And what he said yesterday -- and this was some pretty strong language -- he said Russia has very sophisticated cyber capability. And he said it's coming, those attacks are coming, so essentially saying it's only a matter of time before we see these attempts from Russia to launch these cyberattacks at private companies.

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And the president, interestingly, saying that it is in the national interest of the country for these private businesses to be prepared, even going far as to say that it is a patriotic duty for these companies to be prepared. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not just in your interests that are stake when there's potential use of cybersecurity. It is in the national interest of stake.

And I would respectfully suggest it's a patriotic obligation for you to invest as much as you can in making sure -- and we will help in any way -- that you have built up your technological capacity to deal with cyber.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now, of course, this is an administration that has actually been warning for months that these kinds of attacks could come from Russia.

But what we heard yesterday from the administration also is that there has been evolving intelligence to suggest that there might be a heightened threat. Russia has been taking preparatory activity, according to the administration, basically being prepared and preparing to launch these kinds of cyberattacks against American businesses.

And this is why the White House, I should note, has been holding classified briefings with certain companies, so that they can be as prepared as possible, and the administration trying to give as much advice so that these companies can be as prepared as possible -- Ana.

CABRERA: M.J. Lee, thank you.

Now, Russian opposition leader and Putin critic Alexey Navalny is now vowing to appeal after a Russian court sentenced him to another nine years in prison just this morning. Navalny, who almost died after being poisoned in 2020, is currently serving a two-year sentence for violating probation terms.

And, today, he was found guilty of fraud and contempt.

Nic Robertson is in Brussels with more on this.

Nic, Navalny is responding to this sentence. What is he saying?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, he is fighting back.

He tweeted out that any sentence is essentially only two days in jail, quoting one of his favorite TV shows, saying it's the first day and the last day, so very defiant about that, but also saying that he's going to take his message of Putin's corruption internationally.

He is, of course, the most well-known living critic of President Putin domestically in Russia and certainly growing international attention since his poisoning, since his arrest. Also, in the past couple of hours, he's tweeted out a figure, a very high figure for the number of Russian soldiers, he says have been killed in the war in Ukraine so far.

So he's not backing down in his criticism of the Kremlin. And this is true to form for Alexey Navalny. When he came back from Germany after recovering from that poisoning that almost killed him, he knew what he was taking on in the shape of the Kremlin. He knew that Putin hates him. He knows that the Kremlin is prepared to kill for its aims.

He called out the invasion right on the eve of the invasion, likened it to Russia's getting involved in Afghanistan back in the 1970s and '80s. So, he is somebody who's clearly not going to go down quietly. At the same time, he is clearly someone the Kremlin absolutely wants to shut up and get away from the media and have his voice silenced.

CABRERA: What a stand and what bravery on his part.

Nic, before you go, we played recently the video from Arnold Schwarzenegger that he had made against the war in Ukraine directed at the Russian people. And I understand that's now being dismissed by some in the Russian media. What's this all about?

ROBERTSON: The Kremlin knows how an appeal from Arnold Schwarzenegger could really catch on.

So, with all these criticisms that they find coming against them from the West -- and this is one of them -- they know that this can land a blow on the Kremlin's propaganda. So they're fighting back. What are they saying? They're calling this U.S. propaganda.

They're saying Schwarzenegger couldn't really have done this by himself. This was made in Hollywood, essentially too theatrical. They know that he has, Arnold Schwarzenegger has a connection with many Russian people, because of where he comes from, his background, his strong man image, his movies. He has been to Russia. He knows people there. They know that his message is a damaging one for the Kremlin.

So they're doing what they always do, essentially a character assassination, saying, not him, made up by Hollywood, don't trust it.

CABRERA: Interesting. Nic Robertson, thank you.

Another bold Russian takes a stand against this war in Ukraine. Russian independent newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" is auctioning off the Nobel Peace Prize medal won by its editor in chief to aid Ukrainian refugees. Dmitry Muratov won this prize last October for his work defending freedom of speech in Russia.

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Muratov says the growing number sick children requiring urgent treatment pushed him to auction this medal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: You can expect Russia's war on Ukraine to have a big impact this year on the price we pay for everyday household items, gas, groceries.

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