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Putin, Prigozhin Speaks Out After Mercenary Mutiny; CNN Says It Has Tape of Trump Discussing Classified Documents; UK's Plan To Send Asylum Seekers To Rwanda To Cost $215K; Zelenskyy Claims Large Ukrainian Frontline Advances; Insurrection Could Test Russia-China Relations; Robot Combing Sea Floor for Debris Amid Probe; Hitmakers AJR Turn Music into Environmental Activism. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 27, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:23]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN Newsroom. They speak. Vladimir Putin calls leaders of attempted coup traitors who will face justice. While Yevgeny Prigozhin says it wasn't really a coup, we're required to help.
A government assessment finds there's no way to know the effectiveness or ultimate costs of Britain's controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
And Adam Met of AJR performing to sellout crowds by night, loving U.S. lawmakers by day for a bipartisan bill on climate change.
UNIDETNFIEID MALE: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Thanks for being with us. We begin with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who's made his first public appearance after an attempted coup over the weekend. He called the leaders of the Wagner mercenary group traitors and enemies of Russia.
Hours earlier, Yevgeny Prigozhin also made his first public statement defending his march on Moscow is more of a protest, not an attempt to overthrow the government. Putin appear angry during his address to the nation. And well two days ago, the Kremlin said charges against Prigozhin will be dropped.
The Russian president now says the leader of the rebellion will be brought to justice for their crimes. The mutiny mark the greatest challenge to Putin's 23-year rule, but he appeared to play down the threat in a nationwide address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): An armed rebellion would have been suppressed. In any case, the organizers of the rebellion despite the loss of adequacy could not fail to understand this. They understood everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Putin made that national address just hours after we heard from the Wagner boss who was last seen in public Saturday. Right now, though, his whereabouts are unknown. In an audio message, Prigozhin spoke about the support his fighters have received from the Russian people.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, WAGNER PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANY FOUNDER (through translator): When on June 23, and 24th we walked past Russian cities, civilians Metis with the flags of Russia and with the emblems and flags of the Wagner PMC. They were all happy to see us when we came and when we passed by. Many of them still write us words of support. And some are disappointed that we stopped because in the march of justice, in addition to our struggle for existence, they saw support for the fight against bureaucracy and other ills that exist in our country today.
(END AUIDO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joining us our CNN's Paula Newton following developments from (INAUDIBLE) she all have experienced reporting from Russia. So somebody who knows this country who knows Putin as a leader, that address that we saw, that didn't seem to be the Putin that we've known in the past.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It didn't inspire confidence, did it? And you know, what's so interesting about this is that it both men seem to come out as losers, after both trying to portray themselves in some way having a one -- of one something of this.
I will point out that after that meeting, that after that address, we don't know exactly when it happened, but apparently Putin did meet with advisors, those advisors included the Prosecutor General, what does that mean?
You know, we had tasks reporting that in fact, the charges against Prigozhin had not been dropped. I mean, it continues John, this entire saga. In fact, it's -- just after 8:00 a.m. right now in Minsk, and we are awaiting the arrival perhaps he's already there of Mr. Prigozhin, and we are awaiting President Lukashenko there apparently to give a press conference to explain this further.
So can you imagine that it is the president of Belarus that is going to explain exactly what happened in Russia in the last few days. Believe me, the absurdity of this is not lost on Russians themselves have been monitoring Russian media and normally is quite careful, especially of late given the strength and laws in Russia. They have prosecuted people who have denounced the war for example.
But I want you to see this comments are from a columnist Andrei Kolesnikov from the (INAUDIBLE). He says the rumors were in short, one better than the other. And most importantly, all believable, no matter how absurd they may be, because the last days have confirmed that the more absurd the assumption, the more likely it is to come true instantly.
You know, John, that issue here is a couple of things. One is what is going to happen not just to Prigozhin but also his fighters. They are not going to walk away from what is their job, a very lucrative job and it's funny that President Putin presented these options in his speech to those fighters which he knows are a liability which is why he addressed them directly in such a short speech.
[01:05:06]
And said you can either sign up with the Ministry of Defense, you can go to Belarus or you can go home. You can bet most of them aren't going to do any of that. And that's why it is again over to Mr. Prigozhin to see if he does end up in Belarus what he says and if he continues to cause trouble for President Putin.
VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Newton there live us, some good analysis and some good reporting what's happening right now. Thank you, Paula.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko played a key role in bringing the military uprising to an end and in the coming hours as Paula mentioned, he too, is expected to speak publicly even answer questions from reporters, according to state media Lukashenko will answer all.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said Monday that the Belarusian leader extended his hand and offered to find solutions to further the work of the Wagner group in a quiet legal way. And while the Kremlin says Prigozhin has agreed to exile in Belarus as part of this deal. So far, he hasn't been seen inside the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SVIATLANA TSIKHANOUSKAYA, EXILED BELARUSIAN POLITICIAN: We actually don't have confirmation that precaution arrived in Belarus, the information about Wagner's camps in Belarus is not confirmed either. The result of this information right now, but the goal of this is to mislead and to the press, they will force people to resist.
But nevertheless, I don't know what Prigozhin intends to do in Belarus, but he's definitely not welcomed in our country. He's a war criminal and he can print the war to Belarus, and we don't want that. We heard from Prigozhin today that Lukashenko promised him to legalize the Wagner group. What it means in practice, we don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: What we also don't know is the whereabouts of most of the fighters, the mercenaries with the Wagner group.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGC COMMUNICATIONS: Yes, it's unclear right now, where the bulk of the Wagner forces are. I mean, we've seen some reporting, mostly through press and social media that many of them moved back across into Ukraine. But we're not in a position to verify or validate those reports. So it's really unclear where they all are, and where they all might go or what they might do in terms of the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More now on the low key reaction from the White House, and why to the rebellion in Russia, from CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the White House is continuing to monitor very closely the fallout from that attempted insurrection in Russia over the weekend, the officials very clear that we don't yet know exactly what is going to happen next, or what the impact will be on the Wagner group, for example, on Russia's war in Ukraine, or, most importantly, on the future of Putin's hold on power inside of Russia.
The Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Sunday, saying that it was clear that this insurrection revealed cracks in his regime, but asked on Monday, what the impact would be on Putin whether Putin has been weakened the National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby just wouldn't go there.
There was a number of -- one of a number of questions that Kirby refused to answer and it speaks to how cautious U.S. officials and particularly the White House is being in commenting on the record about this situation. They wouldn't even label whether this was an insurrection, an attempted coup.
And part of that is because of the fast moving nature of the events. Another part of it is because of what we saw, as this was all unfolding, the White House trying to avoid the perception that the West is somehow weighing in here. We heard President Biden on Monday talk about that strategy.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: We gave Putin no excuse to blame this on the west and to blame this on NATO. We made clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it. This was part of a struggle within Russian system.
DIAMOND: Now, Putin interestingly on Monday, he didn't directly blame the West for this coup. He only talked at one point about this being an outcome that the West had been seeking or wanting to see, which was notable in and of itself given how often Putin has reverted to that playbook of blaming the West for events in Russia or inside of Ukraine.
Now, President Biden for his part, he is continuing to coordinate very closely with allies. He's expected to speak once again with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And on Tuesday, the White House is expected to announce $500 million of additional security assistance for Ukraine. Now that's intentional. It's an important message that this White
House wants to send at this moment that regardless of what happens in Russia, regardless of what happens in Moscow, the U.S. will continue to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion. Jeremy diamond, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With us this hour from Washington is James Clapper, CNN national security analyst, a retired U.S. Air Force General and a former Director of National Intelligence. It's good to have you with us, sir. Thank you.
[01:10:04]
JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, thanks for having me.
VAUSE: OK. Now, Putin to public appearance on Monday it was brief, that five minutes. He seemed kind of angry. In fact, so angry there was even some red movement in his forehead. If the Russian president was hoping to project stability, and control after the events, everything we can, how do you think he did?
CLAPPER: Well, I don't think he -- I don't think he did that. I thought the speech, such as it was, was rather underwhelming from the simple standpoint of its brevity. Normally, Putin drones on and on speeches, and he just didn't exhibit or display what I would call or what the military calls command presence.
So the impression I get he is -- I think he was caught short. He didn't -- he wasn't -- he didn't see this coming. And I think at this point, he's trying to gather himself and figure out how he can regain the reins of control of his government.
VAUSE: And this was the first time Putin or any criminal leader had been seen since that 11th hour deal on Saturday brokered by Belarus to end the uprising. So then one hears a little more from that very short, very short remarks that he made on Monday. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PUTIN (through translator): However, the organizers of the rebellion betraying their country that people also portrayed those who were drawn into the crime, they lie to them, push them to death under fire to shoot at their own way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: We did hear from Putin on Saturday, and he promised back then the coup leaders will face justice, just as he did on the speech on Monday. But the problem is, in between Saturday and Monday, Putin agreed to grant Prigozhin amnesty in return for exile in Belarus.
So, you know, this is kind of confusing. Is Putin playing some kind of shell game with the Russian public? Or does he plan to prosecute Prigozhin despite their agreement, or will try and hang this on someone else? Because he never mentioned Prigozhin by name? How do you make sense of this?
CLAPPER: Oh, I don't. I'm having trouble sorting out what this is all about. First of all, I wasn't real clear to me what Prigozhin was attempting to do, had he gone to Moscow. But the fact that he without any resistance apparently took over the -- all of the Russian command and control and logistical control operations in Rostov with virtually no resistance.
And then all of a sudden, he turns around and goes home and sends troops back to the barracks. And I just find this agreement. So allegedly brokered by Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, a little strange, and I can't conceive the Prigozhin would go to Belarus, which from a security standpoint is simply an extension of Russia, where the, you know, the long dark hand of Putin can reach out and touch him.
And if I were he, and I was going to go actually go to Belarus, I'd sort of stay away from multi-storey buildings.
VAUSE: Well, we did hear from Prigozhin two hours before Putin did his five minutes address. Here is the head of the Wagner boss says somebody had to say.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
PRIGOZHIN (through translator): We walked 780 kilometers in a day, not a single soldier on the ground was killed. We regret that we were forced to strike on aircraft. But these aircrafts dropped bombs and launched missile strikes.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, what was interesting about his speech, it had this kind of, you know, hey, guys, I didn't really mean to try and attempt to overthrow the government feel to it, it was all just a protest, no hard feelings.
CLAPPER: Yes, this further adds to the mystery here. This rather strange behavior where he seemingly is trying to revise history. Or, you know, sorry, I was just kidding. I was just trying to get attention. And so I found that rather odd, as well. Of course, we really haven't seen him emerge anywhere in terms of his location.
So there's more to come here. And I think from as a longtime intelligence practitioner, that some analytic humility is in order here because we just don't know exactly what's going on, but it's certainly a strange evolution. It certainly advantages Ukraine and it clearly diminishes and weakens the stature and status of Putin.
VAUSE: Yes, this is one of those moments I guess in history that we will not leave what happened for some, you know, for long time to come I guess.
[01:15:00] James Clapper, thank you for being with us. We really appreciate it.
CLAPPER: Thanks John.
VAUSE: Well, Russia struggles with confusion and uncertainty in the wake of the weekend rebellion. Ukrainian forces are said to be making significant gains on the battlefield. According to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his troops are advancing in all directions on the frontlines. While Russian President Vladimir Putin made a brief public appearance Monday. Zelenskyy traveled to Donetsk region meeting with soldiers praising their courage for pushing back Russian forces. Our reporter in eastern Ukraine is Ben Wedeman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A brief revolt in Russia complicating the fight on the front line in Ukraine. Now as Prigozhin halts his uprising and relocates to Belarus as part of an agreement to avoid Russian bloodshed, Wagner's future on the battlefield is uncertain.
PRIGOZHIN (through translator): The purpose of the march was to prevent the destruction of the Wagner PMC and the prosecution of those who made a huge number of mistakes in the course of the special military operation due to their unprofessional actions. The society demanded this. All the soldiers who saw supported us.
WEDEMAN: Eager to accelerate the halting start of their counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military claimed a spate of advances over the weekend. The Russian defense ministry has yet to comment on the Ukrainian claims.
In the southeast, Ukrainian troops claimed to liberate the village of Rivnopil Ukrainian Armed Forces said they cleared a strategic Russian position on the western bank of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal. And in the long embattled town of Bakhmut. Ukrainian troops said they made gains on territory that Wagner fighters fought mercilessly to claim for months.
The battle in Bahmut unfolded in close quarters among the trenches, some fighting even taking place at point blank range and Ukrainian commander said. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the frontlines of Donetsk to praise the efforts of the troops to advance.
VOLOYDMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukraine is proud of each and every one of you. You are tough, strong are real Ukrainians. Everyone in the country understands that you're with us. Those who are not on the frontline, everyone knows you are doing the most difficult work right now.
WEDEMAN: Despite these small territorial gains, the front lines remained largely unchanged. While Ukraine has claimed some tactical success, it remains to be seen whether it's enough to turn the tide of war. Ben Wedeman CNN, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN Newsroom. Publicly, Donald Trump says he did not keep classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office. In private, though, recent that paid audio appears to contradict that, in his own words, that's next.
Also ahead, the British government has revealed the high costs and certainly of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. They're pursuing the plan anyway.
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[01:20:12]
VAUSE: CNN has obtained a key piece of evidence in the federal indictment against former U.S. President Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified material. An audio recording from 2021 after he left office, Trump's words suggests he is holding top secret Pentagon plans for an attack on Iran. And in that recording, he's saying he did not declassify those documents.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: These are bad sick people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was your coup, you know, against you.
TRUMP: Well, it started right at the --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like when Milley is talking about, oh, we're going to try to do a coup. No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to overthrow your election.
TRUMP: Well, with Milley, let me see that, I'll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran.
Isn't it amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this -- this is off the record but they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
TRUMP: We looked at some. This was him. This wasn't done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff-pages long, look.
Wait a minute, let's see here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TRUMP: I just found, isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know.
Except it is like, highly confidential.
Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this . You attack, and --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMLAE: Hilary would print that out all the time, you know.
TRUMP: She'd send it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her private emails.
TRUMP: no, she'd send it to Anthony Weiner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TRUMP: The pervert.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please print.
TRUMP: By the way. Isn't that incredible?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TRUMP: I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, he wanted to attack Iran, and what -- these are the papers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You did.
TRUMP: This was done by the military and given to me. I think we can probably, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. We'll have to see. Yes, we'll have to try to --
TRUMP: Declassify it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: figure out a -- yes.
TRUMP: See as president I could have declassified it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TRUMP: Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Now we have a problem.
TRUMP: Isn't that interesting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TRUMP: It's so cool. I mean, it's so, look, her and I, and you probably almost didn't believe me, but now you believe me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I believe you.
TRUMP: It's incredible, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they never met a war they didn't want.
TRUMP: Hey, bring some, bring some Cokes in please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And that contradicts what Trump said last week on Fox, where he claimed classified or top secret documents were not stored at his Mar- a-Lago Country Club after leaving office. We should know Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges in this case.
In Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in for a second term following a resounding victory in Sunday's elections. He promised to rebuild the country's credit rating, create jobs, increase wages, all of this as he took the oath of office on Monday. His ruling party won more than 40 percent of the vote, defeating the leftist Syriza with a huge gap (ph). CNN's Elinda Labropoulou has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST (on camera): Greece has center right New Democracy party has won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections that will seek Kyriakos Mitsotakis voted in as prime minister for a second time.
Mr. Mitsotakis is the person who has seen Greece through the end of the financial crisis. He has weathered COVID-19 crisis and also an energy crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine. He is seen as a safe pair of hands to deliver further growth. And this is very much what the Greek people seem to have voted on the economy, and very much the impact in their own pockets.
Mr. Mitsotakis has pledged to deliver growth in Greece stable growth of 3 percent throughout the next decade, and he has also said that he will make big changes in education and in house. A number of other parties have also entered parliament for the first time.
A number of far right parties have actually entered parliament for the first time in Greece is going to be a voice a strong voice, perhaps an opposition voice in the parliament. But Mr. Mitsotakis seems to have a strong enough mandate to be able to see his pledges through. Elinda Labropoulou, CNN, Athens, Greece.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The EU Border Patrol agency is considering suspending operations in Greece for a migrant boat disaster earlier this month. French newspaper among the reports Frontex has also launched an investigation into the incident and will confine its findings into a serious incident report.
The boat carrying more than 700 migrants capsized off the coast of Greece. Hundreds were killed and many more are believed to be missing. The United Nations estimates that 80,000 migrants have traveled to
several destinations in Europe this year alone with thousands landed in Greece.
[01:25:05]
The British government's controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda now has a price tag, at least per person. And that price is more than $215,000, U.S. dollars. That's according to the first detailed government assessment of the plan.
Britain's conservative leaders are determined to drive down costs of housing, the thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who crossed the British Channel from France. They say in order for the plan to break even, it needs to deter about two in five people from making the dangerous journey in the first place.
Earlier, I spoke with CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas, I asked him about the hidden costs to the UK in not bargaining for more including the heavy moral cost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: What we do know thus far, and it's important to look at the language as this is a deal between the U.K. and Rwanda, that is framed as a migration partnership and an economic partnership. And I don't think there's been enough discussion yet as to what the sort of either economic sort of, you know, stakes are in this particular relationship.
What we know thus far is that 114 million British pounds have been promised to the Rwandan authorities, which is an extraordinary figure. And I think the irony of this as well, which feeds into this question of instrumentalizing, immigration is now that the U.K. is no longer a member of the European Union, it no longer dissipates in the European Union's coordinated asylum, and migration policies.
And so there's a tremendous cost there of administering this. But ultimately, at the end of the day, we're looking at an economic argument versus a human argument with the math and the numbers around the economics based on something that has essentially got very little sort of background and experience in terms of how this has been used before with no certain outcome as to -- with all these different variables as to whether or not those savings will be an actor, John.
VAUSE: OK. So when the British interior minister says this.
SUELLA BRAVERMAN, BRITISH INTERIOR MINISTER: We saw at the end of last year, people dying on the channel, in their ill-fated attempt to get to the UK. So the compassionate thing to do and the humanitarian thing to do is find another solution.
VAUSE: She is absolutely 100 percent right. But this plan is not a solution.
THOMAS: It's not a solution. And there's nothing compassionate about this plan or pretending it. She's stigmatizing and instrumentalizing the vulnerable these migrants and asylum seekers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's CNN European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas.
Ron DeSantis, a U,S, presidential hopeful is promising to make an extreme shift in the country's immigration policy if elected. The Republican governor of Florida says he'll allow the use of deadly force against those who entered the United States from the southern border.
Speaking at a rally in Texas, he agreed with an audience member who said the migrant crisis is an act of war that requires a violent military response. DeSantis is promising to block most asylum cases from having the first place and deputize state governments to deport people.
Not only that, DeSantis says he will end birthright citizenship which is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
Ahead here on CNN, Russia's President calls out traitors to the war in Ukraine as he attempts to bury the events of the past week. What Ukrainian officials had to say about Putin's latest comments.
Plus, China's Foreign Minister reaffirms support from Moscow. But could the insurrection be giving Beijing second thoughts about the unbreakable long lasting partnership and friendship with Russia?
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[01:30:58]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The president of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko is expected to speak publicly later Tuesday about the short-lived military rebellion in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin broke his silence on Monday.
He did not mention the leader of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin by name. Instead he criticized the organizers of the rebellion for betraying their country. And he said Wagner Group fighters could go with Prigozhin to Belarus or join the Russian military.
Prigozhin spoke earlier on Monday as well. He said his goal was never to overthrow Putin but to prevent the breakup of the Wagner Group. And he stopped the march on Moscow at the 11th hour to avoid more bloodshed.
An adviser to Ukraine's president mocked Putin's speech tweeting, "He put the final dot in his own agency. Doubts are finally dispelled. Russia is waiting for a new president."
The weekend rebellion is taking a toll on the Russian economy, the ruble briefly hit its lowest level in nearly 15 months on Monday, trading at about $87 to the U.S. dollar before paring back some of those losses.
Russians scrambled to swap their cash for dollars over the weekend pushing up the exchange rate. Then Russian currency has been surprisingly resilient for most of the year mostly because of the aggressive rate hikes by the central bank.
Ukraine is hoping to parlay the problems in Russia into gains on the battlefield. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is praising the counteroffensive and claims his troops are making gains on all fronts.
CNN's chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh reports now from Kyiv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Unprecedented chaos in Moscow has yet to ease Ukraine's bitter fight in the trenches. Close combat around Bakhmut two weeks into the continued grind of the counteroffensive open operations, filmed over the weekend just as Wagner troops rolled towards Moscow.
Here the red, white and blue are Russians in disarray and surrendering. The hope is more will fall as word spreads of the failed rebellion, and morale and discipline falter.
It was near here Ukraine proclaimed Monday progress on the front lines, with room for hope elsewhere. To the south on another Donetsk front near the heavily contested Marinka it appears that some Kremlin loyal Chechen fighters were pulled to Moscow for its defense of the weekend. Here they are obstructing along an apparent highway near the capital.
Bakhmut and Marinka, opportunities for Ukraine in the east, but also further west near Kherson, the Antonivsky Bridge, a scene of intense clashes captured by this Russian drone as Ukrainian forces claim to cross over to the Russian-controlled eastern bank opening another front, perhaps.
It is too early to tell whether or if Russia is crumbling, and Ukraine's progress has been incremental still.
This, the familiar scene when their fighters declared they captured another small village in the south, Rivnopil (ph) on Monday. None of this yet a strategic sea change in Russian collapse. The weekend's madness that Zelenskyy, visiting troops in the east Monday as will hope follows.
He faces anxious choices, even with all the Kremlin's intimate ugliness so exposed. Move now or wait for more in Moscow to unravel. He must be sure to make no mistakes of his own or interrupt this torrent of them in Moscow.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN -- Kyiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Malcolm Davis is a senior analyst specializing in defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He joins me right now from Canberra. Malcolm, it's good to see you.
MALCOLM DAVIS, SENIOR ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Good to see you John.
[01:34:53]
VAUSE: Ok. Definitely (ph) unusually silent for the past couple of days, the leader of the mutinous mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, spoke publicly Monday to clarify that his call to overthrow the defense ministry, taking control of a major military installation in Russia's south, and then marching on the capital with thousands of troops, shooting down Russian air force planes along the way, eventually stopping with 120 miles -- that was not an attempted coup. It was a cry for help. Here's part of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, HEAD, WAGNEWR GROUP: Two factors played into my decision to turn around. First factor, we wanted to avoid a Russian bloodshed. Second is we marched in demonstration of a protest, not to overturn the power in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ok, what is really going on here?
DAVIS: Well, I mean clearly he is now saying that this was a march for justice to try and protect Wagner from being ripped apart and essentially dissolved by Putin and the military generals. He clearly did not want Wagner to be essentially assimilated into the Russian military. He wanted to be kept as a unitary force.
And so that was motivating his choices, but the reality is, of course, that as soon as he started marching on Moscow, it was seen as a probable coup attempt by Prigozhin. And certainly Putin's statement the night before tended to suggest that that is what the case was.
So whether it was Prigozhin's intention to have a coup or not, that is what it was perceived to be.
VAUSE: Yes. And so we have this -- the deal negotiated by Belarus on Saturday, which brought this to an end, the immediate crisis anyway. Part of that deal was that Prigozhin received amnesty in return for going into exile in Belarus. Where he is right now, we do not know.
And then we heard again on Monday from Putin who basically said all the coup leaders will be facing justice because they are traitors and enemies of the state.
So for Prigozhin, does this mean that, you know, he just doesn't not stand on rooftops or go to open windows or, you know, he takes care while walking up flights of stairs in the foreseeable future? DAVIS: Look, I think he knew that already, the moment he left Rostov-
on-Don, he knew that he was a man that was essentially, to borrow the phrase, "a dead man walking". I mean I think that he recognizes that he is a target for Putin's assassination teams and so, therefore, he is going to keep moving.
He's certainly not going to settle down in Belarus. My guess is he will turn to Central Africa and a lot of these Wagner fighters will come with him. Some may stay in Belarus, but for him to stay in Belarus would be placing his life in incredible danger.
VAUSE: Well, over the past few days, U.S. President Joe Biden has said very little publicly about the turmoil in Russia. Here is why. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We gave Putin no excuse to blame this on the West or to blame this on NATO. We made it clear that we were not involved, we had nothing to do with it. This was part of a struggle within the Russian system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Is this kind of the case of when your enemy is committing suicide, let them?
DAVIS: I think that is one possibility, but I think Biden was making it clear that, you know, the U.S. and his Western allies did the right thing by reinforcing to the Russians that this was not a Western ploy because the concern with it had to have been that if Putin thought that this was somehow the West was behind this and organizing this then he could have lashed out at NATO and that could've escalated things very quickly.
You know, we are all concerned about the possibility of Putin stepping over the nuclear threshold. I think this was one crisis that could have seen that had things gone differently.
So I think Biden was being very careful to reassure the Russians that the U.S. and his allies in Western Europe were not behind this.
VAUSE: Yes. The White House would not even be drawing on Putin's future, his authority has been weakened. I want you to listen to spokesman John Kirby, here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, SPOKESMAN, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: This is an internal Russian matter. And I think it is important to remember that Mr. Putin still commands a very large and a very capable military. And the bulk of that military is across the border in Ukraine and that military is defending itself against Ukrainian attacks. And we've got to stay focused on what really matters mostly in front of us, and that is helping Ukraine succeed on the battlefield. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This may be an internal matter, but the consequences will most likely be felt far beyond Russia's border. And for Ukraine especially in the short term at least, is this a win-win or is there danger here as well?
DAVIS: Look, I think there are risks and opportunities here for the Ukrainians if they encounter less resistance along the Russian line of defense in Ukraine in areas such as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, because the rank and file of the Russian military see their leadership in disarray or being incompetent and so they lose morale and will to fight. Then that presents an opportunity for the Ukrainians to make fast progress in their counteroffensive.
[01:39:57]
DAVIS: The risk of course is that if Putin feels that he is cornered, that he is facing both a defeat in Ukraine and also the potential possibility of multiple internal threats to his rule, then he could lash out. You could become like a cornered animal that lashes out.
And that is always dangerous. And we simply don't know what is going through his mind now or in that future scenario. So we do have to be cautious, but we should not fall into the trap of allowing any implicit threats from Putin, particularly in terms of nuclear saber- rattling to diminish our resolve to support Ukraine and ensure that they win.
VAUSE: Absolutely. Malcolm, thank you. Malcolm Davis in Canberra, appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.
DAVIS: Thank you.
VAUSE: China's foreign ministry once again reaffirming Beijing's support for Russia, according to Russian state media. The minister says both countries are, quote, "an important force in ensuring global peace and promoting inclusive development".
But as CNN's David Culver reports, in private, Beijing may have its doubts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This might just be the biggest test yet of their, quote, "no limits partnership". President Xi Jinping of China has described Russian President Vladimir Putin as his best and most intimate friend. The two leaders have pledged to create a new world order together, not to mention they share a common ideological adversary, the U.S.
But some analysts see the events over this weekend in Russia as weakening Putin's power, leaving Russia's neighbors to the south and biggest ally China, navigating in uncertain waters.
In a previously unannounced visit, Russia's deputy foreign minister immediately traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials over the weekend, including with foreign minister Qin Gang. It is seen by some as a scramble to reassure China that Russia is stable and that things there are under control.
For its part, Chinese state media echoing that narrative even as CNN and most western media aired Prigozhin's convoy advancing in Russia, Chinese State TV showed a peaceful, calm atmosphere around the Kremlin.
Interestingly though, Chinese social media, which is tightly controlled, showed some users expressing concern over what might happen in Russia and how that could potentially impact China.
On Sunday, Chinese officials finally addressed the situation in Russia calling it Russia's internal affairs and pledging its support for Russia and protecting national stability. China's diplomatic and economic support for Russia since Putin's invasion of Ukraine has of course soured relations with the West, but Chinese officials have also tried to portray themselves as a neutral party and possible peacemaker to end the conflict in Ukraine.
The threat of instability in Russia though this past weekend might accelerate China's efforts to resolve Russia's war in Ukraine.
David Culver, CNN -- Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN, she gave her son her place on the Titan submersible. A heartbreaking story of her last moments with her husband and her son. That is ahead.
[01:43:03]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTIN DAWOOD, WIVE AND MOTHER OF TITAN SUBMERSIBLE VICTIMS: I think I lost hope when we past the 96-hour mark. That's when I lost hope. And that's when -- even then I sent a message to my family onshore. I said I am preparing for the worst. That is when I lost hope.
Like my daughter for example, she didn't lose hope until the call with the Coast Guard when they basically informed us that they found debris.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That is Christina Dawood. Her 19-year-old son Suleman died with his father when the Titan submersible imploded. She was meant to be on that trip to the wreckage of the Titanic. But instead give her spot to her son. All five people were killed on board when it imploded.
Investigators are prioritizing recovering debris of the Titan from the seafloor and trying to determine if any laws or regulations were broken.
More details now from CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REAR ADM. JOHN MAUGER, U.S. COAST GUARD: The Coast Guard has officially convened a Marine Board of Investigation into the loss of the submersible and the five people on board.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, six inquiries being conducted by four countries into the catastrophic failure of the Titan.
MAUGER: The board will first and primarily work to determine the cause of this marine casualty.
MARQUEZ: Deep water submersibles had been mapping the wreckage and recovering some pieces of the doomed sub.
MAUGER: The salvage operations are ongoing. The resources are on site and capable or recovering the debris.
MARQUEZ: And if evidence shows criminal wrong doing, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police will starts own probe.
As for the cost of this massive operation, it's estimated to be in the millions with the U.S. Coast Guard picking up the tab.
Canada's Transportation Safety Board already gathering data on the Polar Prince, the ship that transported the Titan.
KATHY FOX, CHAIR, TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD OF CANADA: TSB investigators boarded the Polar Prince to examine and document the vessel, to collect information from the vessel's voice data recorder and other vessel systems that contain useful information.
MARQUEZ: Canada's TSB also speaking to family members of the deceased who were on the Polar Prince when the sub was lost.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you aboard the vessel?
MARQUEZ: Christine Dawood told the BBC she was supposed to descend in the sub. But gave her spot to her son.
DAWOOD: It was supposed to be Shahzad and I going down. And then I stepped back and gave the space to Suleman because he really wanted to go.
MARQUEZ: So agencies from the U.S., from Canada, the British government and French government all looking into this one incident. It is likely to take months if not a year or longer before they can come up with conclusions of what happened and recommendations to hopefully prevent something like this from happening again.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: After their fairytale success with the rest AFC Football Club, the Hollywood superstar owners are now branching out to Formula 1 racing.
Actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny are part of an investment group to explore the 24 percent equity stake in the Alpine F1 team. Parent company Renault announced then deal on Monday. The team will receive to $218 million putting its value at $900 million. Alpine is currently fifth in this year's F1 Constructors Championship.
Ultra marathon runner Courtney Dauwalter shattered the world -- the women's record for the world's oldest 100-mile race beating the previous record by 80 minutes. On Saturday, she finished the Western State 160 kilometer race in 15 hours, 29 minutes, 34 seconds. That's an Average speed of around five and a half minutes per kilometer.
The race runs through mountains and trails in California and ends just outside Sacramento, the capital of the state.
A musician who makes a difference is coming up. I'll talk to Adam Met of AJR about how he's working to forge a bipartisan climate bill, in all places, deeply divided Capitol Hill.
[01:49:17]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back.
Well, it seems fossil fuels continue to provide most of the world's energy. A new report found oil, coal and gas make up 82 percent of global energy consumption for last year; renewable energy, excluding hydro power less than 8 percent.
The report says global energy consumption went up by 1 percent. Fossil fuels meeting that demand and as the fossil fuels continue to dominate, the amount of planet heating pollution from the energy sector rose to a new high.
Well, if you haven't heard of Adam Met and the indie pop band AJR, chances are you've probably heard this.
From his Adam (ph) writing screen, he is using his success and popularity as a performer to open doors on Capitol Hill. Part of a years-long effort to negotiate a bipartisan bill on climate change.
I spoke to him for our series "Music that Makes a Difference".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: It has been quite a musical journey for AJR. The three brothers behind the hit song "The World's Smallest Violin", an (INAUDIBLE) melody which combined elements of folk, jazz and musical theater.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: A year after its release, 2021, the song went viral on TikTok as background music for millions of users posting video clips.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: A study in contrast to their hit "Burn the House Down", a protest song released four years earlier with a strong definitive baseline. And while the pop vibe is there, gone are the all about me lyrics.
Both songs seem to reflect a kind of synergy driving Adam Met, the eldest of the three brothers. Using his popularity as a performer to help open doors on Capitol Hill for his activism on the environment.
ADAM MET, AJR: When I go in and meet politicians or people who are working in the climate space, yes, at first they'll want a selfie for their kid or for themselves or they want to talk about the show.
But then it quickly moves into this conversation about the environment. Some people think it's BS and then I start talking about the data and I start talking about the maps and start talking about the research that I've spent years and years working on.
VAUSE: In recent years, the music industry has been working to reduce its carbon footprint, special while touring. Others have their own environmental causes like Sheryl Crow and Jack Johnson who dramatically reducing the amount of plastic at their concerts. Green Day joined the National Resources Defense Council advocating for clean energy and green jobs.
All worthy causes says Adam who has his own ambitions -- a bipartisan climate policy in a deeply divided U.S. Congress.
MET: If we frame this argument of climate around jobs, around the economy, around energy security, around preservation of our environment, around removing carbon from the atmosphere -- all of those things attract different areas of the political spectrum.
So if you can find that overlap, that common ground between people. That is where we are going to have these solutions and that's what this policy recommendation is -- common ground.
VAUSE: To get to common ground, he has been pushing the practical during those with both Republican and Democrat lawmakers. Like land sharing, locating renewable energy on land, already dedicated to the oil and gas industry.
[01:55:00]
MET: If you think about it, right now wind and solar lives over here. Oil and gas lives over here. If we take one and put it on top of the other, it lets us preserve as much land as possible.
VAUSE: So the land which is being used for oil, being drilled for oil and other fossil fuels, is that suitable for wind and solar? I mean I thought they had windmills in places where it is windy and solar in places where it needs to be sunny. MET: That's a great question. We did a massive country wide analysis
on exactly this. So we looked at photovoltaic potential which basically means is there a lot of sunlight? And we look at annual wind speed which means is it windy. And we found out that some of these places that house oil and gas production are exactly the same places that can produce a tremendous amount of sunlight and a tremendous amount of wind.
VAUSE: And for the owners of the land which is leased by the big energy giants like Exxon and Shell, transitioning to renewables needs an ongoing income in a fossil fuel free economy.
MET: One of the craziest things for me that I learned is that 80 percent of the production of oil and gas in the United States comes from these mom and pop producers that have 12 or less employees. And this plan allows those people to transition their businesses to wind and solar and other renewable energies.
VAUSE: And with the climate crisis clock ticking down, using land already zoned for energy production could take years off an approval process which can take up to ten years for a wind farm or solar array.
MET: Think about it this way, when you set up an oil and gas project you have to go through a massive environmental review. That has already been done. Now if retroactively we want to put solar panels or windmills on that same property, you already have all the data for the environmental review. So you get to cut down the years of environmental process down to less than two years.
VAUSE: One of the biggest obstacles though to this plan lobbyists for fossil fuel industry.
Right now, the cheapest form of energy on this planet is solar.
MET: It is.
VAUSE: Nothing is cheaper than anything else, yet fossil fuel industry receives billions of dollars in subsidies every, not just from the United States government, but from governments around the world. How do you beat that?
MET: With all of the infrastructure that has been built on this land, transmission, roads, the energy infrastructure. It's all there already. So makes it even cheaper for them to start building solar.
VAUSE: Well, there is still no bipartisan agreement on Adam's climate policy. He is being heard. Not just by the thousands of fans on AJR's world tour but by those who will decide our future in Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church after a short break.
See you back here tomorrow.
[01:57:40]
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