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Swedish & Finish Leaders Announce Intent to Join NATO; Drone Video Shows Russian Attacks on Mariupol Steel Plant, Ramp Up Attacks on Severodonetsk; McConnell Speaks as U.S. Republicans Meet with Finnish President. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 16, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London.

And we are following two major stories just ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This event will not define Buffalo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an absolute racist hate crime.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must all work together to address the hate that remains a stain on the soul of America.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia tried to deny any enlargement of NATO.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Social Democratic Party has concluded that Sweden should join NATO.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Isa Soares.

SOARES: Welcome to the show, everyone. It is Monday, May 16th.

We begin with the consequences of Russia's war on Ukraine. Finland and Sweden have announced they intend to join NATO, reversing a neutral stance held by the two nations for decades. And really paving the way for major expansion of NATO's military alliance directly on Russia's doorstep.

Now, what you are looking at, right now, are live images coming to us from Helsinki in Finland where Finnish lawmakers are gathered to consider the issue. Swedish lawmakers are set to do the same in about 30 minutes or so.

Both parliaments are widely expected to endorse the decisions. From there, NATO says the approval process could move very quickly.

Finland's acceptance would also double Russia's land border with NATO, a move that's likely to anger Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long considered NATO expansion really a threat to Russia.

Our Nic Robertson is in Helsinki with the latest.

Nic, this is a pretty momentous day for both Nordic nations. Talk us through the process. We saw the live images of them debating it. What can we expect next?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, we've had Prime Minister Sanna Marin give a speech to the Finnish parliament laying out why they've come to this conclusion that Russia is not safe an Finland will be safer as a member of NATO. That NATO will be safer and stronger with Finland being its member.

So that is now, as you say, being debated in the Finnish parliament, 200 members. There are 10 or a dozen that have clearly indicated they are against this decision. So we can expect them to speak as part of the debate today.

A vote is expected more likely tomorrow than today, but it's undoubtedly going to go in the favor of NATO.

I spoke to a parliamentarian a couple days ago, and he told me he believes more than 830 of the 200 parliamentarians would vote in favor.

Sweden as well, over the weekend, the Social Democrat Party of the prime minister indicating they support joining NATO, that that will make the region safer and Sweden safer.

They also, although technically not required or constitutionally not required, they are going -- putting this before the parliament for debate and discussion.

Both countries, you know, prizing their democratic values and wanting to make sure that everyone on board when they come to -- when they come to make their decisions. But the outcome is a foregone conclusion at this stage.

We are outside the president's residence in Helsinki. He's meeting with Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Susan Reed, a couple of other U.S. Senators here. Expected to make a few comments shortly.

Obviously, the Finnish president has been buoyed by the support that his country is getting from all NATO members.

The only wrinkle in that, so far, President Erdogan, of Turkey, indicating that he is not looking positively upon the possible membership of Finland in NATO. But NATO's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said very clearly he expects these issues to be tidied up.

How long the whole process takes, a matter of months. Hard to pin it down because everything goes before national parliaments.

This is, though, as you say, a historic moment, a geopolitical shift of magnitude caused by President Putin.

SOARES: Nic Robertson, as soon as we hear Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, we shall bring that to our viewers.

Nic Robertson there in Helsinki in Finland. Thanks very much.

[04:04:59]

We are tracking a major symbolic victory for Ukrainian troops near Kharkiv. The Ukrainian military says it has reached the Russian border and put down a blue as well as yellow stake. You can see the video.

After weeks of intense fighting, some of these soldiers have even cracked a smile.

As Russian forces have been repelled near Kharkiv, Moscow is ramping up attacks in other areas. We learned a short time ago of a new missile strike report in Ukraine in the Odessa region.

Meantime, Russia is pouring more troops into Ukraine's Luhansk region. They are focusing artillery and troops around Donetsk. And again, they are accused of firing on civilian targets. Ukrainian officials said, Sunday, the Russians shot at the hospitals. You can see there.

This, amid reports Ukrainian forces have pulled back from Rubizhine, a nearby city. A bridge linking the city with Donetsk has been destroyed in a sign Ukrainians may be taking up new defensive lines.

For the very latest, Suzanne Malveaux is live in Lviv, Ukraine.

Suzanne, great to have you in OK.

I know you arrived over the weekend. Give us a sense of your first impressions so far.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first impressions really are quite amazing that the Ukrainians -- crossing over the border, we entered from the Poland side. And there's such a sense of optimism and hope of the people to really come back into their country no matter what the condition is here.

I mean, I actually met a woman who was at the front of the line. And the lines are miles long. You can imagine these cars just trying to get back home. She had been waiting in line for four days with her 7- year-old son.

I talked to her and she just wanted to come home. That was the tremendous feeling that a lot of the Ukrainians who I met yesterday had. I just want to talk a little bit about the sense of the message that

we are getting this morning here. You had mentioned the Ukrainian military unit that is just north of Kharkiv who are now at the Russian border. They had a message saying, "Mr. President, we made it."

And this small unit, showing the video with that blue and yellow staff that they had. Really a sense of pride here. It is symbolic. It is real. It shows once again that there are some wins, there are some victories as the intense fighting continues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It almost looks like fireworks, but these explosions aren't for show. They are incendiary munitions. It's yet another day of crushing Russian firepower, aimed at the besieged city of Mariupol.

Over the weekend, a large convoy of cars and vans carrying fleeing residents managed to leave the city. An aide to Mariupol's mayor says up to 1,000 vehicles arrived in Zaporizhzhia, which would be the largest single evacuation from Mariupol since the fighting began.

One man says it was a harrowing journey.

NIKOLAY PAVLOV, MARIUPOL EVACUEE (through translation): We barely made it. There were lots of elderly people among us. It was tough. People went through hard things before. They were nervous. The trip was devastating, but it was worth it.

MALVEAUX: Meanwhile, further East, Russian troops are zeroing in on the town of Severodonetsk, where 15,000 people still live.

But the Ukrainian military says Russian forces have suffered significant losses as they try to push through the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Areas of the North, near the city of Kharkiv, are back under Ukrainian control after Russian soldiers retreated from there.

NATO's secretary-general says these are major setbacks for the Russians.

STOLTENBERG: They failed to take Kyiv. They're pulling back from around Kharkiv. Their major offensive in Donbas has stalled. Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives.

MALVEAUX: But some Russian forces are getting additional help. About 600 Chechen fighters --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: I want to take you live to Mitch McConnell who is speaking right now in Helsinki. Let's listen in.

SAULI NIINISTO, PRESIDENT OF FINLAND: -- very important moments for Finland and your visit has been very important. We had a very good discussion. I refer -- want to refer our last

meeting that was in March in Washington. and I once again, want to thank you for encouragement you gave then a couple of months ago, and now you see the results.

We had a very interesting discussion not only dealing with Finnish membership in NATO, but also Ukraine and how we see world developing, getting better, how we get rid of these problems we have, the crisis in Ukraine. Very important, as you said.

[04:10:09]

Once again, it's very valuable to have you here.

Thank you.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Mr. President, it's great to see you again. And this historic day in the history of Finland, brought about, obviously, by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

First on that issue, just let me say briefly I expect the United States Senate to finally approve the bipartisan package of $40 billion this week.

We also want to thank your country for all you've done to help the Ukrainians and to deal with some Ukrainian refugees as well.

With regard to the news of today, I'm safe in saying that strong bipartisan support in the United States for admission of Finland to the world's most successful military alliance.

There's never been a more successful military alliance than NATO.

Finland brings a lot to the alliance. Frankly, their participation strengthens the alliance significantly. And it's a great honor to happen to be here on the day when your request for admission is official.

And let me say that the goal in the United States will be to approve that as rapidly as possible.

NIINISTO: Now we have time for some questions. Let's start from left and go to center and then to the right.

First there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: From Finnish Broadcasting Company.

I have a question for Senator McConnell.

So what's your estimate, when will -- when will the Congress vote on ratifying the Finnish membership on NATO? Will that happen before the midterm elections? And then what do you think -- and how many Republican Senators will vote in favor of it?

MCCONNELL: Well, we hope to do it as rapidly as possible. Your question is what is rapidly as possible? And I think certainly we hope to achieve it before the August recess when Congress typically goes out of session. Obviously that would be well before the fall election.

With regard to the size of the vote, I think it will be very significant, not unanimous, but very significant.

NIINISTO: Can you pass the microphone to the gentleman next and then we go to the center?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: CBS News.

Senator McConnell, you are calling on President Biden to declare Russia a state sponsor of terror. Can you explain why?

And, Mr. President, do you also agree that Russia should be declared a state sponsor of terror and why?

MCONNELL: Well, first, the president has within his authority to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Anyone who has been able to observe the events of the last couple of months would have to conclude the Russians certainly deserve to be included on that list.

NIINISTO: Like I said, how we deal with Russia, what we say about Russia, that is what we discuss with our E.U. partners. E.U. has been very active and I'm sure that the discussion will continue, and also activities.

ROBERTSON: Senator McConnell, Nic Robertson from CNN.

President Erdogan has said that he doesn't look positively upon Finland and Sweden becoming members of NATO. Can President Erdogan block this process? And you've mentioned how quickly the United States you anticipate will move. How long do you believe this process of accession should take?

MCCONNELL: I hope whatever his concerns are will be worked out. By any objective standard, both Finland and Sweden bring a great deal to the NATO alliance, strengthens the alliance far beyond what it is today.

And hopefully, that will be President Erdogan's view, too, in due time.

NIINISTO: Let's call at the end of the line.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Senator McConnell, I would have two questions, if possible.

[04:14:57]

Many Finns are worried about the so-called gray period between application to NATO and then the actual final ratification. What sort of security aid could America provide? Could it include sending troops to Finland's aid?

And secondly, I'd like to ask are you concerned about the growing divisions within the GOP in the United States. Especially there's a growing number of House members who are against aiding Ukraine, and obviously one Senator stalling the approval of the aid package.

Thank you.

MCCONNELL: Well, with regard to your first question, I don't know the answer to that. That would be up to the Biden administration to discuss with your president and the team here in Finland.

With regard to dissent, look, in the United States we've been over 200 years arguing over everything. And so I do not anticipate either the Ukraine package to be completely unanimous or the decision on Finland and Sweden's admission to NATO to be unanimous.

But it won't be close. There's broad bipartisan support, but some dissent. I mean, in America, we have dissent over almost everything.

NIINISTO: The gentleman on the left.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Senator McConnell, what are your expectations for Finland in NATO? What kind of member state do you expect Finland to be?

MCCONNELL: Well, Finland is -- punches above the weight of a number of existing NATO members. Europe mission to great toe greatly strengthens NATO. That's why we've been partners, in a sense, before the actual admission.

You add a great deal to NATO. NATO is already the most successful military alliance in world history, now it's going to be even stronger than it was.

NIINISTO: We are slowly running out of time. Let's take at least two questions next to each other there to follow. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The Finnish News Agency.

Former President Trump said he wants to -- at one point, he wants to pull U.S. from NATO. Are Republicans still committed to NATO?

MCCONNELL: Absolutely. That's not the majority view in the Republican Party, certainly not the majority view in among Senate Republicans or House Republicans.

NIINISTO: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: During the discussions, did you talk about any concrete -- Senator McConnell, did you discuss any concrete ways to enhance Finnish security during this gray period while we are waiting for the ratification process to go through?

MCCONNELL: Well, your president made it clear he would like for us to move quickly. I'm also committed to moving quickly.

We would love, in the United States, to be the first to ratify the admission, but there's some procedures we to go through that could end up making it possible for some other NATO allies to get ahead of us, but our goal is to get there as quickly as possible. NIINISTO: Any final words?

If you may, we were discussing already two months ago about the support that USA is willing and what is possible to give. And I really appreciated the information --

SOARES: We seem to have lost that feed but I can give you a rough idea of what we have been hearing there from Helsinki in Finland.

Of course, we heard the Finnish president, Sauli Niinisto, meeting alongside, as you just saw speaking there, Mitch McConnell, the U.S. Senate Republican leader who is in Helsinki, Finland, with a delegation of GOP Senators.

Really becoming an important time as we've seen today members of Finnish parliament debating their accession into NATO.

In terms of what we've heard from Mitch McConnell, he said he expects the Senate -- talking about Ukraine here -- U.S. Senate to approve the $40 billion aid package this week in Ukraine. He says it probably won't be unanimous in terms of a decision but it is significant.

He said similar words in regard to Sweden and Finland's a session to NATO. He said there's strong support to the world's most successful military alliances.

When asked about the expectations for Finland as part of NATO, he said that Finland punches above its weight in comparison to other existing members.

[04:20:04]

He also said that the goal is to approve this process as rapid, as quickly as possible.

Our Nic Robertson was standing there. He asked a question.

Nic, what did you take away from that?

ROBERTSON: Yes, the idea that the United States could be, according to Senator Mitch McConnell, could be and would like to be the first country to grant permission for Finland to accede to NATO, a very strong commitment there.

Actually, he said, because of legal technical procedures, it may take a little bit longer to the United States to complete the process than other countries, but clearly the United States at the leading edge of supporting Finland.

He talked about, you know, the close nature of the way that the two countries have trained before, have been on joint operations before.

We know they've been in Iraq at the same time, Afghanistan at the same time, Kosovo, Bosnia, Lebanon. All of these places Finnish forces have worked side-by-side with U.S. and other NATO members.

I think that's one of the big takeaways here, the fact that they want to do it quickly.

He seemed to think as well that the wrinkles that President Erdogan is sort of casting ahead of Finland requesting to become a NATO member and the process of accession there, he seemed to think that those could be overcome.

So a very clear and strong support for what's the support of Ukraine of course but also the support here of Finland's application.

SOARES: Let me go to Jomana next. Do Stay with us.

Jomana Karadsheh is with us from Istanbul.

Jomana, explain the rationale for Erdogan's objection, and whether, of course, Turkey's concerns are being addressed by NATO.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isa, we first heard those concerns from President Erdogan on Friday, quite a surprise for many countries and Turkey's allies when they came out and said they don't view Finland and Sweden's membership bid positively.

But then we have had some clarification, Isa, from senior Turkish officials, the foreign minister and others saying, look, they are not blocking these two countries' membership.

They are saying that Turkey have some issues that need to be addressed, security concerns that need to be addressed by these two countries and by NATO. They say they want security guarantees.

What Turkey is accusing Sweden and Finland of is basically saying that members of the PKK, that separatist militant Kurdish group, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, by the E.U. and by Turkey, they say that members of the group are operating in Finland and in Sweden.

They also accuse mainly Sweden of arming and providing support to the YPG. That is the Syrian Kurdish militia operating in northeastern Syria that Turkey views as the same group as the PKK.

And this is something that has been really at the heart of disagreements between Turkey and other NATO allies over the years because they had chosen the YPG as a partner in the fight against ISIS.

And also Turkey wants Sweden and Finland to lift bans on military exports to Turkey, some arms exports, some restrictions on its defense industry.

Basically, they're saying they are not closing the door, this is not a firm no, but they want discussions that have started over the weekend.

The Turkish foreign minister meeting with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts, saying they presented them with evidence for these allegations Turkey is making. And also they are getting proposals from these two countries. We have heard from U.S. officials, the secretary of state, also the

NATO secretary-general, everyone seems to agree that this is something they will be able to address and work through, not overly concerned about Turkey's objections so far -- Isa?

SOARES: It doesn't seem to be so far that they're going to peter in any way their accessions.

Clare Sebastian is with me now.

Clare, Finland's acceptance, as Nic was pointing out, is historic, but would double its border with a NATO country, obviously, with Russia. How much will that rattle, do you think, Putin, President Putin?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot. I think this is, you know, categorically one of the worst-case scenarios for Russia. Putin, as long as I've been covering him, which is about 15 years now, has worried about NATO expansion into eastern Europe. The fact that this will double the land boarder is extremely concerning.

We heard from the deputy foreign minister called this a mistake with far reaching consequences.

I think the optics of what we just saw, a top U.S. Senator standing in Finland endorsing this in-person, a look back to what Putin said on February 24th when he announced the special military operation, a speech in which he referred to NATO nine times, he proceeded to say it's not about NATO itself, it merely serves as a tool of U.S. foreign policy.

He said that the problem is in territories adjacent to Russia they're creating a hostile anti-Russia. This is how he views it, the encroachment on his territory.

[04:25:02]

I think the question is, what will Russia do? The foreign ministry has warned about retaliatory steps of a military technical nature.

SOARES: Right.

On that point, let me go back to Nic.

I don't know if you heard in terms of what the next steps would be from Russia or how Putin may view this.

But one of the questions that was put to the president there and as well to Mitch McConnell was about this gray period between acceptance and obviously being fully on board with NATO, a fully-fledged member.

What's the security concerns if you are living in Finland?

ROBERTSON: That Russia could act militarily along the border, could try to create attention, could try to, you know, influence the mood in Finland. That there could be, you know, a potential cyber threat. One of the reasons that politicians here have kept their views on a

pretty tight hold since this began being discussed here, middle of April, and the sort of -- the endorsement by the government, and this discussion in parliament has been kept short.

Is because there isn't -- there's a real feel that if the process was long and if there was to be, for example, a referendum this would give Russia an opportunity with sort of -- to be able to interfere in the process. You know, to sort of feed false news into -- or fake news, rather, into the democratic process here.

So you can apply the gray area -- you can apply it to the process that's going on in Finland, and that's where they've kept it short, and the gray area while Finland has asked NATO for membership and is waiting for that to happen.

On that account, you saw the British prime minister here last week, other Nordic nations, to oversee their defense pacts with the states as well with Finland. So there is security there.

But the idea that Russia could try to exploit the interim period before Finland becomes a full member and before it falls under that, that an attack on one is an attack on all and all of the other NATO members would come to their support. That's the concern.

SOARES: Yes.

Nic Robertson.

Clare Sebastian and Jomana Karadsheh, thank you to you both.

I will have much more after a very short break. Please stay right here.

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