Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Russia Expected To Cut Gas Supplies To Poland, Bulgaria; New Video Shows Russian Forces In Bucha On Street Strewn With Civilian Bodies; U.N. Chief Met With Putin & Lavrov In Moscow Tuesday; Moldova Calls Emergency Meeting After Blasts In Transnistria; Deutsche Bank Warns Major U.S. Recession Is Coming. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 27, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:43]
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with a dramatic escalation in tensions between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine now threatening to boil over and hammer European economies. According to Polish authorities, Russia plans to cut off natural gas supplies to the country within the next hour. Russia is also expected to suspend deliveries to Bulgaria on Wednesday. Well this after both countries refuse Russia's demands to pay in rubles.
Specifically, Poland says Russia is cutting supplies to the Yamal pipeline, the one in green on this map. But the move could signal trouble for European economies more broadly, which is still heavily reliant on Russian energy.
Well, those fears of pushing global markets into disarray following a major sell off on Wall Street Tuesday. Several of the markets in Asia are trading lower today. Well, meanwhile, the Euro hit a five-year low against the dollar. We'll have a closer look at the fallout and rising fears about the U.S. economy coming up a little later in the show.
But first, let's go live to my colleague Isa Soares in Lviv, Ukraine. Hello, Isa.
ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anna. Well, a spate of attacks in and around Moldova is raising fears that Russia is planning a new front in its war on Ukraine. Now, Moldova's president has called an emergency meeting of the country's Security Council after explosions destroyed radio towers and reported rocket attack a deal earlier.
Now the blasts happened if you're looking your map there in Transnistria, that a Russian backed breakaway region of Moldova. Just south for there, Ukrainian officials say a Russian missile damaged a critical bridge in the Odesa region now happened on Tuesday. Ukraine's president says Russia is trying to destabilize the region meanwhile.
As you can see there, heavy fighting continued on Tuesday in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine. An adviser to President Zelenskyy says Russia remains focused on encircling Ukrainian forces. And just this coming into CNN, a local Russian official says a fire is blazing through an ammo depot (ph) in the Belgorod region bordering U.K. -- Ukraine as you can see there. It is unclear at this stage how the fire has started. But several military facilities have caught fire or exploded since Russia invaded Ukraine.
We'll keep on top of that breaking news story. Russian authorities are extending what they call a terrorist threat level in response.
We are learning also this morning about more atrocities left in the wake of Russian forces in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where scores of civilians were killed. Ukraine's top prosecutor has exclusively shared photos with our Anderson Cooper, warning though, some of the images we're about to show you are graphic. They were taken in early March and show bodies strewn on the street and our evidence in Ukraine's investigations into war crimes.
Now CNN's Anderson Cooper will have a full report on this later today. So do stay tuned for that. CNN, meanwhile, has also exclusively obtained drone video, placing Russian forces near the scene of the killings. Highlighted there in your screen, in the middle of your screen, in fact, is a Russian military vehicle sitting at an intersection in Bucha.
Right up there, light up the streets you can see other bodies of several dead civilians. It was filmed on March 13. And this was geolocated by CNN. And then this video from March 12 shows Russian soldiers around a military vehicle parked outside a house down the street from those same civilians, killed civilians that we just showed you. CNN has been able to geolocate as well as confirm the authenticity of both of those videos.
Well, despite the evidence like this, Russia continues to deny any involvement. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin claims talk of Bucha derailed peace talks with Ukraine. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): Unfortunately, after reaching agreements and after our clearly demonstrated intentions to create conditions for favorable conditions for the continuation of negotiations, we encountered a provocation in the village of Bucha, to which the Russian army has nothing to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:10]
SOARES: And he said this while meeting with the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Mr. Putin said Russian and Ukrainian negotiators did achieve a serious breakthrough during their talks, but added that the situation changed following the allegations of Russian war crimes. Those comments of course coming as the Russian president met with the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as I was saying to you met on Tuesday, pardon me. The U.N. says they met for about an hour, including several one-on-one discussions. Guterres also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. Lavrov told reporters Russia remains committed to finding a solution through negotiations. Meanwhile, Guterres who meet with Ukraine's President in Kyiv on Thursday said the goal should be to reach a solution, of course, as soon as possible. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: It is my deep conviction that the sooner we end this war, the better for the people of Ukraine, for the people of the Russian Federation, and those far beyond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: Well, America's top general says Russia's invasion of Ukraine is threatening the international security order. General Mark Milley spoke exclusively to Jim Sciutto after he and the U.S. Defense Secretary met with allies in Germany to discuss the war. Jim Sciutto has a story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At a gathering in Germany of military leaders from America's closest allies, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said they must move together, quote, at the speed of war to help defend Ukraine.
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We don't have any time to waste. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): In an exclusive interview with CNN, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told me, the stakes of the war in Ukraine are global.
GEN. MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: This was left to stand if there is no answer to this aggression. If Russia gets away with this cost free, then so goes the so-called international order. And if that happens, then we're heading into an era of seriously increased instability.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): I press General Milley on whether the U.S. and NATO intended to weaken Russia, in addition to defending Ukraine, as Defense Secretary Austin said Monday.
(on-camera): Has the U.S. aim in this conflict expanded beyond just helping Ukraine defend itself to an aim of degrading Russia's military so it cannot attack other countries?
MILLEY: At the end of the day, what we want to see, what I think the policy of all of our governments together is a free and independent Ukraine with the territory in tech and their government standing and the Russian aggression has been halted and stopped. And at the end of the day, I think that it's going to involve a weakened Russia, a strengthened NATO. SCIUTTO (voice-over): Austin made clear, the U.S. does not want war with Russia, but touted the Western lead resolve to rein in Russia's bloody onslaught.
AUSTIN: In less than a week's time, we were able to bring together 40 nations not just from Europe, but from, you know, nations from the Indo-Pacific and a number of places. And because they are interested in helping a country, protect a sovereign territory and also maintaining a rules-based international order.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): A coalition of defense leaders pouring weapons into Ukraine, including a new batch of tanks from Germany, as an increasingly isolated Russia resorts to deadlier tactics and more threatening rhetoric. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov drew the attention of U.S. officials Monday when he said the danger of nuclear war is real. General Milley called the comments irresponsible.
MILLEY: Well, anytime a senior leader of a nation state starts rattling a nucleus favor, then everyone takes it seriously. And it's completely irresponsible for any senior leader to be talking like that in today's world.
Jim Sciutto, CNN, Lviv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: And joining me now is Peter Layton who is a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute and joins us now live from Brisbane, Australia. Peter, thank you very much for speaking to us. Let me start right there with your thoughts really on U.S. Joint Chiefs Chair Milley and Defense Secretary Austin both talking about cause weakening Russia. How do you do that, you know, beyond of course providing weapons to Ukraine?
PETER LAYTON, VISITING FELLOW, GRIFFITH ASIA INSTITUTE: I think that that's already happened and that we see now by comparison let's say Russia at the start of this year. Economically speaking, Russia is suffering badly from the sanctions. Milley technically speaking, Russia seems a much smaller power. So I think that we have a fairly shrunken Russia now which is best, if you like, a small appendage to China.
[01:10:06]
Before at the start of this year, the U.S. had envisaged that they were in competition against both China and Russia. Now it's clearly only China.
SOARES: When we look in the last few minutes, Peter, we've looked at the latest intelligence for the British military, they release it every single morning and this morning, something stood out for me, because it says that the majority of Russian airstrikes, I'm secreted out, in Mariupol are likely been conducted using unguided free falling bombs, of course, leading to more civilian casualties. This is just devastating. Why is Russia relying mostly on this type of weaponry here? LAYTON: They're using larger strategic bombers, the 2u22s (ph), and they drop large numbers of unguided as you say, dumb bombs. There's a lot more explosive in them. But they're also more area weapons. And they're unsure where the Ukrainian forces are, such as -- so they're just bombing the whole area.
Now this is clearly against or in conflict with certain laws of war. But the Russians are also reportedly running out of smart weapons. And they've used up about three quarters of their stockpile. So it's both a reflection of they wish to spread terror, but also the fact that their weapons stocks are running low.
SOARES: Right. And, I mean -- and that's why we have seen just so many atrocities out of Mariupol. One MP saying to me, one adviser to President Zelenskyy parliament saying to me that could be looking at about 20,000 people dead in Mariupol. Why we've seen a third mass grave in Mariupol. Incredibly concerning, of course.
I want to move on to the latest spate really of attacks that we have seen in Moldova. Do you fear that Russia could be planning a new front, let's say, in this war? How worried should Moldova be here?
LAYTON: That's the difficult side. So all of us are looking forward to the 9th of May, Victory Day. And we're expecting that President Putin will announce something. There's a possibility that he will try and mobilize the Russian people in at least a proxy war against NATO.
These false flags attacks in Moldova appear to be part of that propaganda effort about mobilizing the Russian people. It's difficult to see that the Russian forces in Moldova can cause the Ukrainians very much troubles.
SOARES: In order to go all the way to Moldova, Peter, very quickly, they will need Odesa. How realistic is it? Do you think they can take Odesa here, Peter?
LAYTON: At the present time, not. It would take them quite a lot further. They are advancing slightly in the northeast, but they are striking strong resistance. As you say, the sort of ideally the Russian forces would strike westwards from the Crimea into the -- into Odesa and join up with the forces in Moldova. But the Ukrainians are well aware of this and preparing to stop it happening.
SOARES: Yes, one source telling me that he fears that it will be Mariupol that Putin want as a victory win for that Victory Day on May the 9th parade. Incredibly worrying indeed.
Peter Layton, always great to have your insight. Thanks, Peter.
LAYTON: Thank you.
SOARES: Well as Russia continues its offensive in the east and south, there are fears that pro-Russian elements in the southern city of Kherson will stage a sham independence referendum creating Kherson People's Republic, similar to those found in separatist regions in the east. Well, as a result, some Kherson residents are fleeing to central Ukraine, including President Zelenskyy's hometown.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): The southern field conjure a piece long past a world away from Ukraine's hell. It's quickly ruptured by Russia's new offensive, sending waves of evacuees fleeing the growing unthinkable world of Russian occupation. Families for whom the shelling over the last two hours was finally too much.
(on-camera): They're just grads hit one of the villages further down here. I don't know the Russians are actually close to them yet, but it's impossible to stay. A woman was injured there.
WALSH (voice-over): Antonina (ph) was three when the last war ended, but doesn't know when this one will. Hour by hour, everything changes.
(on-camera): Things are moving fast enough here, that just 24 hours ago, a village about 4 kilometers in that direction was the meeting point from which people were getting evacuated. Now it seems to be on the fire and we just see panicked locals rushing in to collect their relatives.
[01:15:04]
(voice-over): Distant tree lines are packed with troops, the blue horizon sometimes pockmarked by smoke.
(on-camera): Here is a rumble of rockets still here and you can see the damage of what they've done before. But somewhere like this has felt to some degree that had survived the worst of the war. But now in this second phase of the Russian operation, the brutality of those forces is essentially coming straight their way.
(voice-over): The flag flies still in the spot here where Lenin used to stand and it needs an army to hold it in place.
People don't want and cannot live under occupation, he says. We've managed to get 7,000 out across our 100 miles of frontline, some by bicycle, some in wheelbarrows, or by foot.
Here's where they're welcomed in President Vladimir Zelenskyy's hometown, Kryvyi Rih. Talk of a sham referendum on Wednesday, trying to gentrify the Russian occupation. And many flee these past days with queues of cars backed up from miles.
This father and son lost a wife and mother respectively to a bomb and even here do not want their faces shown. If they see us, they'll shoot everyone left there, he says. We left on foot over the water and the river.
For this family, it was about saving the eldest, fearing their 18- year-old son would be conscripted after the sham vote. The first time we tried to leave, they shot at us. The second time, we got out, she says.
We are completely occupied, she says. There's no food, no money, we have nothing. They'll do a referendum and take our children. My son is 18 and they'll take him as cannon fodder. We ran as fast as we could.
It is jarring among the generosity of donations and offers of new homes to hear of the casual brutality of the occupiers. Mihail (ph) was tortured for days in a basement after Russian troops mistook his rough builder's hands as a sign he'd been a soldier.
One got out of gun, a real one, he says. I saw it was cocked. Two shots. They hit the concrete wall. I think it was a starting pistol. Two other men then came in and talk less. They were drunk. One must have been a boxer as he beat me in the same place on my ribs, breaking six of them rupturing a lung.
Broken in parts here. But even as Russia closes in, still breathing.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: -- announced that we are hearing day in, day out. I wonder I'll have much more of course from Lviv in the next hour. But for now, I want to send it back to my colleague Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Anna?
COREN: So much appreciated. Thank you so much.
Well, Myanmar's deposed Aung San Suu Kyi has been found guilty of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison. The country's military rulers alleged Suu Kyi accepted gold and cash payments totaling $600,000 from another official. Well, this is just the first of 11 corruption charges against the Nobel Prize winner.
We're told Kyi was not able to meet with her lawyers before the verdict was announced. Suu Kyi denies all allegations.
Well, it was a down day on Wall Street as investors worry about the war in Ukraine, China's COVID lock downs and inflation around the world. We'll see how the futures markets are looking.
Plus, a major international bank is predicting a deep recession around the corner for the U.S. economy. You're watching CNN Newsroom live in Hong Kong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:21:06]
COREN: It was a terrible Tuesday for U.S. financial markets, fears of an economic recession drove blue chip stocks down more than 800 points. The tech sector took a beating as well while the NASDAQ at a 52-week low.
Well, let's take a look at how U.S. futures are faring at the moment. As you can see, the Dow Jones is down just over 2 percent while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 are both up slightly.
Well meanwhile, Deutsche Bank is predicting a major U.S. recession fueled by stubborn inflation. The bank says the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes could slow consumer spending and the housing market making matters worse.
Let's bring in our Kristie Lu Stout following developments here in Hong Kong. And Kristie, it seems that April is shaping up to be Wall Street's worst month in two years after stocks slid yesterday. How Asian markets faring today?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Anna, it's been a bit of a mixed picture here in Asia. Look, Japan is certainly dragging Asian markets lower but Chinese markets are bucking the trend. This after Wall Street plummeted on Tuesday.
You had the tech heavy NASDAQ leading U.S. losses. It lost nearly 4 percent on Tuesday, its lowest levels since late 2020. All this over fears of a global economic slowdown, which is essentially being triggered by three things, aggressive tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve, aggressive zero-COVID policy by China and also the ongoing brutal war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Chinese stocks fell. There's been a lot of concerns there as China battles COVID-19 infections, not just in Shanghai, but also in Beijing and elsewhere. And also a lot of concern about the economic fallout, the economic impact of its tough zero-COVID policy affecting everything from domestic consumption inside China wreaking havoc as well on the global supply chain.
Now, we are in the midst of the Asian trading day. We have the live data for you. Let's bring it up for you. And as you can see, right there, the Nikkei is losing about 1.3 percent. The Seoul KOSPI is down 1.4 percent. Australia S&P ASX to 100 down eight-tenths percent. Hong Kong Hang Seng relatively flat. The Shanghai Composite again bucking the trend, it's gaining 1 percent Chinese stocks apparently have bounced back after days of losses.
Now fears of a lockdown in Beijing have been dragging on investor sentiment. And for very good reason, I want to bring up this statement for you. It's from the Global Market Strategist of OANDA, and he tells CNN this. He says, quote, "Although some parts of China have been under restrictions longer than Shanghai, Omicron's arrival in Beijing would be an ominous development. China is the world's second largest economy, and has shown no signs that it intends to live with the virus."
"And with that in mind," he adds, "the likely pressure valve is going to be disruption to China's export machine and a cratering of consumer confidence," unquote. So Anna, there is great uncertainty out there about China, about the Fed, also about the fate and future of Ukraine.
Remember, just last week, when the IMF warned that the global economy will be severely setback. We have these three economic shocks out there and the global markets are filling it. Back to you.
COREN: Kristie Lu Stout, as always, good to see you. Many thanks.
STOUT: Thanks, Anna.
COREN: Well, joining us now from New York is Catherine Rampell. She is a CNN Economics and Political commentator, as well as a Washington Post Opinion Columnist. Catherine, great to have you with us.
Deutsche Bank, among other commentators a warning of a major recession stating a deep recession will be needed to bring inflation to Hill. Do you agree with this?
CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Deutsche Bank is somewhat of an outlier right now and that they seem to have the most pessimistic forecast on all of Wall Street. That doesn't mean it's a crazy forecast, but it is more pessimistic than what most are predicting.
A lot of other forecasters on Wall Street and elsewhere, various economists are, however, predicting that we have a rising risk of recession here in the United States and there are of course many concerns about recessions elsewhere in the world, particularly in the E.U.
[01:25:13]
COREN: We are, however, expecting the Fed to raise interest rates, Jerome Powell has indicated as much for the Federal Reserve meeting next week. But I guess the question is, is that going to bring down inflation if interest rates continue to rise?
RAMPELL: Well, that's the goal. I mean, that's the primary tool that is available to policymakers to deal with inflation, it's to raise interest rates. Now, there are a couple of risks here, one, of course, is that they don't raise interest rates quickly enough to deal with those inflationary pressures that we have throughout the economy right now, driven by a whole host of factors, including, you know, very expansionary monetary and fiscal policy for the past couple of years, as well as supply shocks, the war in Ukraine and Russia, these lock downs in China, et cetera.
So it's not a done deal that the interest rates alone, particularly if they're relatively slow, that they will bring down inflation. The other risk, however, is that they raise interest rates too quickly, precisely for all the reasons I just mentioned that, that maybe the Fed, it really is very concerned about these longer term inflationary pressures. And they said, we got to be really aggressive, we got to raise rates faster than everyone expects. The risk there is that they're so aggressive that they tip us into recession.
COREN: You mentioned demand, but as we know, inflation is actually being driven by supply constraints and not demand. And that isn't about to be fixed overnight. Do you anticipate that this could perhaps lead to stagflation?
RAMPELL: Well, I would say it's a mismatch between supply and demand. Demand is quite strong, particularly here in the United States. You know, consumers are buying more than they were before the pandemic, particularly, if we're talking about purchases of goods, furniture, cars, clothing, sporting equipment, that sort of thing.
So demand is quite strong. Supply remains quite constrained, primarily and well, initially, I should say, because of these pandemic related effects. And then layer on top of that, these other shocks to global supply chains, including the war, and including China's zero-COVID policy, which is obviously related to the pandemic, but is a more draconian approach this late in the game, to the risk of COVID, then other Western countries per se.
COREN: I was going to say, just finally, some say that the Fed has been asleep at the wheel. I mean, last year, they said that inflation was transitory. And then last month, the Consumer Price spiked to 8.5 percent, a 40-year high. Should the Fed have been more proactive?
RAMPELL: In retrospect, I think the answer is yes. And probably if you ask people who actually are on the Fed, they would agree with that, that their forecasts last year were much too optimistic. And there are a number of reasons why they made those mistakes. I mean, almost everybody did. To be fair, I did. Almost all economists did.
They thought that inflation, if not -- if they didn't use the particular word transitory, they thought that at the very least, the economy would normalize, supply chains would normalize. And therefore, all of those constraints that I was just talking about would kind of unwind themselves and those inflationary pressures would abate.
In retrospect, obviously, that didn't happen. That didn't happen for a number of reasons, including that the demand side pressures were much stronger, I think, then people realized or people accounted for. We had these additional variants, COVID variants that also royal supply chains, and then you have all of these, you know, separate shocks, like the war that have made things much worse.
So yes, in retrospect, in hindsight, it would have been great if the Fed decided to take action much sooner. But hindsight is 2020.
COREN: It'll be interesting to see how markets react after the Fed raises rates as we expect next week. Catherine Rampell, great to speak to you. Thanks so much.
RAMPELL: Thank you.
COREN: A slew of Russian oligarchs who have been hit with sanctions over the war in Ukraine, so why not Vladimir Putin's alleged girlfriend. We'll have some answers just ahead on CNN Newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:50]
COREN: Workers of Ukraine are uniting to dismantle the Soviet-era statue in Kyiv. It's part of the so-called "People's Friendship Arch", put up in 1982. It was meant to commemorate the reunification of Russia and Ukraine, but Kyiv's mayor says the bronze statue needed to come down. He cited Russia's quote, "barbaric desire to destroy our state and peaceful Ukrainians".
There are growing calls from Russian opposition leaders and some in the U.S. Congress for the Biden administration to impose sanctions on Vladimir Putin's alleged girlfriend.
CNN's Nic Robertson reports from Brussels.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Alina Kabaeva back in the news again. First, romantically linked to President Putin more than a decade ago, a relationship he has denied ever since.
They met years earlier reportedly when she was a young medal winning gymnast. He looked smitten.
Last week, stepping out at a Moscow gymnastics event rallying the nation as it slips to international isolation.
ALINA KABAEVA, FORMER RUSSIAN GYMNAST (through translator): If competitions will be held only in Russia, then on the contrary gymnastics will be better, more spectacular. And Russian gymnastics is not losing anything in this situation.
ROSCHELLE: Her life transformed, much richer, U.S. officials say, according to the "Wall Street Journal" following her purported proximity to Putin. Questions now why hasn't she been sanctioned like him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why you would refrain from sanctioning someone so arguably close to Putin?
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't have an analysis at this point because we're still reviewing. There is more we will likely do.
ROSCHELLE: The two rarely if ever, seen together. They're precise relationship, if any, unclear. But more than a decade of rumors undimmed with time.
Now against the backdrop of wartime symbolism, calling on the country to support Putin's war.
KABAEVA: Every family has a history of war and we shouldn't forget about it. We should hand it over from generation to generation.
ROBERTSON: Her wealth and ties to Putin a hot political topics since the "Wall Street Journal" wrote "Treasury officials decided last- minute not to sanction her".
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): There is article in the paper about family members that have been used by Putin to sort of launder money, and talk of a girlfriend in Sweden. Do you know anything about an effort to bring sanctions against her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First answer is no. And the second answer, I guess is, if I did know, I wouldn't be able to -- it's the Treasury Department.
GRAHAM: Ok. Fair enough.
ROBERTSON: Whatever Kabaeva's proximity to Putin, her financial moves never more closely watched than now.
Nic Robertson, CNN -- Brussels.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:34:50]
COREN: Still to come on CNN, mass COVID testing in Beijing has sparked fears the city may be placed under strict lockdown like Shanghai. A live report from China is next.
Plus, an aspirin a day may no longer keep the doctor away. The new recommendations for the pill millions use to prevent heart disease, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Authorities in Singapore executed a Malaysian man his lawyer says was intellectually disabled. The family has confirmed the execution. The 34-year-old was sentenced to death for smuggling heroin into Singapore in 2009.
Last month, the Singapore court rejected a final appeal to spare his life. The case (INAUDIBLE) international attention from activists who believed the Malaysian man's life should have been spared due to his disability.
U.S. President -- U.S. Vice President, I should say, Kamala Harris is in isolation and will be working from home after testing positive for COVID-19. In a tweet Harris said she does not have any symptoms and is grateful to be vaccinated and boosted. She tested positive after returning from California and is taking Pfizer's Paxlovid drug as part of her treatment.
Contact tracing is now underway to determine if others around her are infected. The White House says Harris has not been near President Joe Biden due to their recent travel schedules.
Well, in China, COVID testing for millions of people in Beijing is underway. Shanghai has been under strict lockdown for weeks. And residents in Beijing fear they could be next under China's zero COVID policy.
Well, taking a daily aspirin may be doing more harm than good, according to a group of medical experts. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force no longer recommends taking that daily pill to prevent a heart disease in some cases, as it may put already healthy people at a higher risk for bleeding in the stomach or brain.
Specifically, the group recommends most adults 60 or over should not start taking aspirin as a preventative measure. And adults ages 40 to 59 should speak with their doctor about whether extended use of the drug would be effective for them.
If you are unsure of you are at risk for heart disease and whether aspirin may be useful, groups like the American College of Cardiology have web-based calculator you can use to determine your risk before consulting a doctor.
Well, coming up, the trail blazing work of five female photojournalists is the focus of a new documentary. We'll hear from two of them. That's next.
[01:39:44]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get out of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, that video from Ukraine showing the dangerous yet essential work undertaken by journalists and photojournalists on the front lines of war. Well now, the people behind the camera are the focus of a new documentary. "NO ORDINARY LIFE" profiles five CNN camerawomen who travel the world covering conflicts.
Here's a clip from the trailer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: These camerawomen blazed a trail that they didn't even know they were blazing at the time. They were incredibly brave, incredibly resourceful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a sisterhood. When you go into these situations that are very difficult, very scary, it's nice to know that somebody understands what you've been through. There is not that many people that understand what we have been through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Earlier, CNN's Bianna Golodryga spoke with director, Heather O'Neill and two of the women featured in the film. She began by asking O'Neill why she decided to cover the women behind the camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEATHER O'NEILL, DIRECTOR, "NO ORDINARY LIFE": I wanted to show the world, you know, not only what they covered, but to share these important stories with the world, in front of the camera, and what was going on behind the camera.
You know, each of these women are incredibly brave and took enormous risks to inform the world. And I wanted to make a film that immersed people in their whole experience, in their point of view. You know, what it was really like to be behind the camera in some of these really searing moments.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Maria, when you were approached about this documentary, was there any hesitation about being profiled? About now being in front of it and capturing so many years of your important work?
MARIA FLEET, FORMER CNN CAMERAWOMAN: Well, thank you for having us on. Yes, I guess I had a little hesitation just because I am a photojournalist and I'm used to being behind the camera. And I am not used to having people focus on me.
But I knew Heather, and I knew her work, and so, you know, -- it is an interesting story. We kind of don't think our own stories are that interesting until someone points out that, you know, that's a unique -- that was a unique experience for us and a unique time in journalism history.
GOLODRYGA: Your stories are fascinating. and just sitting there, Cynde, and watching you begin your career, sort of doing what you grew up wanting to do right, and that is learn Mandarin and go to China and ride your bicycle there.
You know, it's a job, it pays the bills, but it's clear that it takes a certain passion to enter this field. What was it about you that made you realize this was the field for you?
CYNDE STRAND, FORMER CNN CAMERAWOMAN: Well, there is two things. I always wanted to be a journalist. But unfortunately, I can't.
So, what did I gravitate to? I gravitated to camerawork. And I think, you know, more importantly though to be able to tell people stories, that's what really put the fire in my belly. And you know, I have to acknowledge the courage of all the journalists right now in Ukraine. CNN journalists -- you know, all the journalists there.
[01:44:57]
STRAND: And once again, it just shows you how important it is to be on the ground somewhere and tell people stories. To be able to introduce people around the world to the people that live in Ukraine, right now.
And in our case, maybe Bosnia or Somalia or other places, but to put names to the people that are, you know, going through this. And their lives are changing.
You know, so I just feel like that passion I had is what, you know, drove me -- drove me to become a journalist. And you know, fortunately, CNN gave us opportunities as women to pick up the cameras and travel around the world.
GOLODRYGA: You know, when you're on the ground there and especially Cynde, your time in China was so crucial and getting a pulse on what was happening in that country.
You talk about in the film, and I want to play a clip of it, of just knowing in your bones that something was about to happen in Tiananmen in 1989. And you decided to work in the evening because that's when the uprising, that's when something would happen, that's when the military would come out. You weren't given a heads up, it was just something you felt. Let's play the clip, and then you can talk about what led you to that he after.
STRAND: That particular night -- I knew that night I just felt it my bones that the government was going to shut this down.
You're it, you are the one that's going to see it. And you're the one that's going to record it. That is why you are a journalist.
So we stayed. We started to get reports that tanks were coming. There is flames in the distance. We are starting to hear bullets cracking down the street, and not just zing-zing but pretty heavy fire. And bodies coming into the square.
We snuck around the back and started talking to the kids that they left.
You think anybody got killed?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course, I'm sure, very sure. Many students were killed.
GOLODRYGA: You know, I was watching that and what stood out to me just with your camera work, I could see the wet beads of the soldiers, you were are that close, you were that focused.
In that moment, were you aware of the magnitude of what was transpiring in that country?
STRAND: Yes, because I was living in China at the time. I wasn't parachuted in. This is my home. And we have been in the square day after day and day. And in my case, night after night after night.
As I said in the film, we just knew it was going to happen. And you know, once again, this is the importance of being there and being a witness to what is happening, and being able to, you know, interpret that to the world and tell the world.
And you know, that evening, we knew there were reports of people being killed on the ring roads around Beijing. The soldiers moved into town, and people tried to stop the soldiers.
And so we knew that this was happening as we got closer and closer to the square. And you know, another example of why it was so important to be there, I saw a lot of people killed around the square. But in the actual square, people weren't -- you know, the students weren't killed. The soldiers came in and pretty much beat them off the square.
So it is just another example of how important it is to be there. And in my day, you know, how important you know, we had to hide on the back of a kind of a rickshaw to get our tape out with blankets over us.
So not just filming it but getting the tape out in those days was a challenge, and that day in particular.
GOLODRYGA: And it speaks to the danger that is involved in the job. And it is interesting to hear all of you say, you know, you are not necessarily adrenaline junkies. You are not out there seeking to, you know, be in the middle of a gun battle, but you are filming some of these important moments as countries, as these conflicts unfold.
And you know, Maria, you found yourself in a dangerous situation where you were hurt in Tikrit. We have a video of that. And I do not know how you managed to keep it altogether, but that is why you are able to do what you do. Let's play it for our viewers.
FLEET: We went through this armed checkpoint. Soon we attracted some attention and a couple of pickup trucks with guys and guns came. And we knew that we needed to get out of there. The guys with the Ak-47s pulled up right next to us.
And my driver was talking to them across me, then they slowed back up and just started firing into our car.
[01:49:48]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok. We just came under attack, under attack. That is gunfire.
GOLODRYGA: There you just see that bloody hand there. Maria, in the moment, did you realize what had happened? And you know, what's the first thing that goes through your mind as you've got your camera right with you and you realize that you've got, you know, a head injury?
FLEET: To be clear, we were -- I had transitioned into producing at that point. And I had a camera with me, but we also had a fellow -- there was a fellow cameraman, Christian Strive (ph) with me as well, who shot a little bit of that footage, too.
But we had gone into Tikrit to right after Baghdad fell, but Tikrit had not fallen.
And we are ventured in and then realized it is kind of a dicey situation, and we need to turn around and get out. And as we turned around, these cars followed us, two cars full of gunmen, pick up trucks.
And I just thought, you know, we made a mistake. I had a very -- it was a very sobering moment, where I just thought we made a mistake. And this is how it ends up. This is, you know, we're going to get killed.
GOLODRYGA: And you were fortunate enough to survive. I do want to ask you, Heather about another photojournalist who you feature in this film. And that's Margaret Mott. She had a devastating injury that she encountered while she was driving in Sniper Alley in Sarajevo. Christiane worked with her as well. And Christiane in the film talks about how she just felt that it was time for her to leave and she wanted to persuade Margaret too. And Margaret said, no, I am staying. And she was defiant.
Why was it important for you to tell Margaret's story. And we should tell our viewers that she sadly, many years later, then passed away after a long and courageous battle with cancer.
O'NEILL: Yes. Margaret was incredible. You know, Maria and Cynde knew her quite well. I never was actually able to meet Margaret. But a really dear friend of hers Joe Duran had an incredible, you know, interview with her.
And as a filmmaker, it was really important. I was having a hard time finding her voice, you know, to tell her own story.
And you know, we found this interview with her. It was really remarkable to be able to have her speak and talk about her life, and you know, everything that she had done and contributed to.
And I was just so struck by her spirit, I mean just her absolute fierceness. I mean she was an incredible journalist. And you know, just until the end, I think it was probably pretty hard for her to put her camera down, you know, once she was diagnosed.
So it was really important to have Margaret, you know, be present in this film. And we found some amazing footage of her returning to Sarajevo. I mean that is the best part of her story is the first place she wanted to go back after a year of really grueling surgeries was Sarajevo and she did.
GOLODRYGA: She should thank her doctors.
O'NEILL: Yes. Yes.
GOLODRYGA: You captured her so well. I mean fierce and courageous and bold. And I can see that with those piercing blues eyes, I just could not stop looking at her in this film.
Cynde, what is clear is there are not many women photojournalists out there. And I know one question that you all at this point, you know, we're so exhausted about hearing so many years into your jobs, can I help you carry that camera? Is it too heavy? Is it more dangerous to be a woman than a man in this job?
And you hear it not only from strangers but I know from family members who worry about going out there. Talk about, you know, being a woman in the middle of a war zone, filming it all.
STRAND: Well, I will say, you know, I had many role models, many of the still photographers were women, especially some trailblazers from Vietnam. You know, Katherine Roy and Dickie Chappell and just so many women I could name that were still photographers.
So when we showed up on the scene, you know, carrying heavy equipment and ladders and tripods, a lot of times, people were just shocked. And they were -- often I would say -- people would say -- where is the cameraman? Are you -- are they making you carry that stuff for the camera man? So, you know, I can't tell you how many times we are in security
scrums, you know, filming a VIP, and you have these big, burly security guys and they're trying to push the camera people away. And they look at us in shock, like wait a minute, there's something wrong here.
[01:54:45]
STRAND: But you know, I have to say, so many of that -- you know, when we first got started, and also (INAUDIBLE) to may be see there was one of the leaders -- you know, lead camerawomen during our time but, you know, the camera guys, you know, they welcomed us. They moved their tripods over and made space for us, you know.
There's quite a few guys that looked at my tape and give me some feedback on my tape. You know, in the old days, we would feed from these TV stations. And no one would wait around to watch CNN's tape, certainly no one would wait around to see my tape feed.
And then, you know, people started waving around to see my tape feed, and I really felt like, oh, you know, I am there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: And you can learn more about the documentary and the amazing women featured in it by going to NoOrdinaryLifeFilm.com.
Well, the U.N. warns that nearly 2 million children were starving to death across the horn of Africa, as the region faces one of its most severe droughts in recent history.
And as many as 20 million people could be pushed into hunger by the end of the year. U.N. Aid a chief Martin Griffiths (ph) calls it a once in generation tragedy.
In a plea to donors, he says more than a billion dollars is needed to respond to the crisis across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia over the next six months. Only a small fraction of this money has been received so far.
The U.N. is also warning of a sand crisis, that's right, you heard it. The road is running out of sand. A new U.N. report calls for urgent action, including a ban on beach extraction.
The report blames the problem on population growth. Believe it or not, sand is the most exploited resource after water. And we are using it faster than nature can produce it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASCAL PEDUCCI, DIRECTOR OF GRID GENEVA, U.N. ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME: Now, the problem is that sand cent is produced through very slow erosion, geological process. It takes hundreds of thousands of years to go from rocks to grain of sand. And we are using 50 billion tons of sand and gravel per year. You might think, what is 50 billion tons? Well, to give an idea, you could build a wall of 27 meters high, 27 meters wide all-round planet earth every single year. That is the amount of sand we're using.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The U.N. report also calls for reducing demand by reusing sand from recycled materials like concrete and (INAUDIBLE).
Well thanks so much for your company. I am Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong.
You have been watching an hour CNN NEWSROOM. Our breaking news coverage of the war in Ukraine continues after this short break.
Stay with CNN.
[01:57:25]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
